Guardian of Shadow
by KiraKiraSuru
Summary: Mukuro is once again Free from Vendicare with the help of another prisoner named Nilal, who claims that not only is she a guardian herself, but was also the eighth guardian back in the days of the first Vongolia boss. With very little interest in talking about her past Mukuro and the other Vongolia Members along with the Cavallone Decimo Dino try to find out more about her.
1. Chapter 1

( there had been some weird thing going on with this chapter so I hope it's now fixed)

It has been two years since Mukuro had lost contact with Chrome, after the battle with Byakuran, the tenth generation young Vongolia's quote/unquote girlfriend Kyoko, coaxed his darling "vessel" into hanging out, and has gone off on her own since without any need to call Mukuro. He was once again alone locked away in the deepest regions of Vindice. the high grade impregnable prison for those in the mafia whose punishment could not be matched by society of normal people. For two years plus the guardian of the mist has been in suspended animation left with nothing but his thoughts. sure he debated about cutting it off with Chrome,but he couldn't do that, to her Mukuro had become something like a brother to Chrome and she confessed it to him, plus it would be obvious to everyone if Chrome's organs suddenly vanished. They would probably storm the prison just to ask him why he did it. So for now he would have to make do being in his own little world inside his brain, using his own illusions on himself to project a calming, relaxing wide open field with warm sun and gentle breeze, naturally for someone like him one would suspect his calm place to be hellfire brimstone the end of humanity corpses everywhere, but being the only one around was just as good.

He was standing on top of a hill overlooking the field with a small pond at the bottom. He took a deep breathe enjoying the solace view. It was shortly ruin when he heard the sound of footsteps, someone had made it into his illusion. His eyes locked onto a girl with porcelain skin with deep powder red lips, dressed in single shoulder black dress that ended mid thigh with black open toed high heel shoes, her hair was raven dark and she had almost doll like teal eyes." You seem bored." She spoke leisurely stopping a few feet away from him. Mukuro, curious examine the woman, indeed she looked like a porcelain doll, life size and all. " I could use your help if you want to leave here" she said smiling at Mukuro. " Oya?" Mukuro finally made a

She turned to the side overlooking the view, everything seemed to waver and melt away, a new illusion was coming into view, the dark room where no light or sound reached. where Mukuro was locked away in a stasis tank. He could see himself in suspended animation in a force coma, the view more or less annoyed him seeing the reality, but it was how illusionist worked they had to know when and where the illusion ended. "We're neighbors in a way." She commented pointing to the tank next to his, but the woman in the tank looked entirely different from the one he was seeing. "This form is more appealing to you right?" She said tilting her head. "After all human beings are just toys right?"

Mukuro finally broke into a smirk laughing in his trademark kufufufu. " I have no clue who you are but you seem to know somethings about me." He looked at the girl into her glass teal eyes. " I know enough to have interest, I also know of your work and ability. Your fight with Mammon, your encounter with Byakuran from ten years into the future even your encounter with the Vongolia's family tenth. You're a force to be reckon with.", " You're quit formidable yourself for me not being able pick up on your stalking" he replied with a light kufufu. " well of course I study my interest carefully and now that I require your assistant, I thought it was time to approach you."

If it was any other circumstance Mukuro would have no doubt pulled out his trident and either pierce or kill the girl for her plan to use him as a pawn but it wouldn't do any good given the conditions. " sorry but I have no intentions on being someone's pawn." He commented turning away from the girl. The vision of the the two trapped in Vindice vanished and the wide field Mukuro had earlier reappeared with the addition of a large willow tree. He walked away from her and headed towards the tree taking a spot at the base. The girl followed him as she grinned. " on the contrary, I'll be your pawn." She commented standing across from him. " how so." He asked looking at her. The girl merely pointed at her own right eye but it was meant as a gesture to his. "Your paths of reincarnation. your first path is illusions but the third path is the path of the beast right, you can summon actual poisonous animals. It'll be the same process.

I see you have thought this through quite a bit but even I know the limits of my power." Mukuro said looking up at the girl. She sat down on her knees tucking her dress under her knees." Indeed but that's why you need an amplifier. Are you curious why I'm locked up in this place." She smiled, there was a sudden breeze as it went through her locks she waited for Mukuro's answer, but he never replied. " your silence means one of two things. You are either interested in what I'm capable of doing or you don't really care but either way I need your help. I'm not much of a fighter only when I have to but my own ability will be of use to you if you want it. I'll give you some time to think about it, and when you've made your decision just give me a call." The girl stood up dusting off her dress. " ah and for the moment my name is Yume. Though please feel free to address me as you wish." She added. Mukuro smiled devilishly as the girl started to fade out of his illusion. Leaning against the base of the tree he thought about the girls offer.

He didn't say it but he was curious about her and what she meant by an amplifier. It was interesting and so was she, but to have answered right away would've been a sign of desperation, and he had to much pride for that, even in prison. He decided to wait and allowed some time to pass before giving her an answer.


	2. Escape

Ch. 2 Diafygi (Escape)

( heads up I suck at fight scenes my apologies)

As planned Mukuro waited before calling upon Yume. During the time he tried contacting Chrome, but to no avail. Standing in an open field of wavering grass and petals from apple blossoms falling. He waited. Soon after the clear blue sky that was once day time turned to night with wild stars and darken skies. Mukuro looked over seeing the girl claiming herself to be "Yume". Looking like a doll same as before. Her black hair swaying in the nightly breeze. Wearing a purple high low gown she stopped inches away from him. She seemed quite comfortable standing so close to him in spite of how dangerous he was. He looked at her with clouds rolling over the imaginary full moon.

"Have you decided on what you would like to do?" She asked

Mukuro smirked and looked at her. He was curious on what she planned on doing to get them out, full physical form and all as well as tricking the Vendicare guards so they wouldn't be hunted down shortly after their escape.

"Very well but if you try anything funny, I won't hesitate to make your stay here an unpleasant one." He said with coldness in his tone.

"Your trident." She replied with a grin

Ignoring his threat he decided on humoring the girls request, Mukuro had his trident appear in his hand. She walked up and pressed the tip of it. Even though it was an illusion her finger started to bleed. The blood flowed down the spike of the trident. The metal started to sizzle as weird markings started to appear. The illusion world Mukuro created that Yume took over started to rumble. Yume kept her finger pressed tightly down on the trident. More blood started to flow as it began to roll over onto Mukuro's hand. The blood trickled up his arm as if it was possessed. Though curious Mukuro didn't budge or flinch. She smirked and watched as the blood slithered up his neck. Now circling around his right eye the possessed blood soon absorbed into his eye with very little feeling. Mukuro's eye set for the first path glowed in a manner he wasn't accustomed to nor had experienced before. The outline of the kanji that symbolized "one" glowed in an almost fiery orange. The illusion world started to crack and shatter, with the sound of class breaking. It resonated and echoed as pieces of the illusions crumbled. Practically in a jigsaw manner the scenery changed to clearer night skies outside of an auditorium. The remaining pieces of the illusions fading into dust. When the pieces settled he looked to the female. She had changed from her doll appearance to a female with long Crimson hair and purple eyes, dressed in a kokuyo uniform in order to humor Mukuro. Though the skirt was slightly shorter and the the top was open and tied at the ends with a black tank top underneath, finishing it off with thigh highs and brown boots. Mukuro smirked pleased by her appearance. It was the same figure as the one he saw in the stasis tank. This was her real form.

"Now how can I tell if this is the real thing of an illusion of your own." He asked.

" I thought you could tell the difference between illusions and reality. If it feels real then it must be real right? But if you need more convincing then let's go inside that auditorium for better proof." She stated.

Mukuro look towards the auditorium and went towards it. The female following close behind. With the doors shut, muffled sounds could be heard as well as worried voices. Mukuro instantly recognized one of the voices to be Tsunayoshi's the Vongolia's tenth boss, and he sounded concerned. He pressed on the door with barely any pressure and the door swung open as fog rolled out. He looked around as the sounds of choking and coughing was now being heard. The fog smelled of toxins, but not the kind to kill but it could still be harmful if inhaled a lot. When the fog depleted Mukuro's eyes fell on Tsuna, Reborn, his more obnoxious guardian Gokudera, the tenth Cavallone boss Dino, and Chrome. Who at the moment was in the middle of at fight with an unknown figure, cloaked in black with fog was seeping from under the cloak. Chrome not being much of a fighter was losing as she clinged to the trident to keep her from collapsing. Before the fight had started she herself had tried to contact Mukuro, but he was not able to hear her oddly enough.

"Oya? Seems you weren't lying." He said

" I don't lie." She replied instantly.

Tsuna turned his head to cough when he saw Mukuro standing at the entrance of the gym. He thought for a moment wondering if he was seeing things as he rubbed his eyes and then looked at Chrome and then back to Mukuro. Surprised, the 10th boss shouted gathering the attentions of the others but their oppenents.

"M-Mukuro?" Tsuna stuttered.

"Mukuro-sama?" Chrome spoke softly.

Mukuro smirked and walked toward the Vongolia and his group. Gokudera instantly on guard against Mukuro as was Reborn, and even The 10th Cavallone boss Dino was ready to defend his little brother. The cloaked figure shuffled looking in Mukuro's direction as Mukuro glanced at him in return. Chrome couldn't help but run towards him but stopped upon seeing the other female with him. Chrome possibly being the only one at the moment to notice the additional person with Mukuro.

"You but how?" Tsuna questioned still in shock

"Don't worry about the details Vongolia. I merely got tired of wondering what my Chrome was doing." He replied.

Chrome looked almost terrified hearing Mukuro's voice and seeing him in person. True she hadn't been in contact with him, but she was finally making friends which filled her mind with other things than Mukuro. Reborn seemed concerned as well, but refused to say anything at the moment. Mukuro turned his head to Chrome and held out his hand. Gripping the trident she had in her possession she returned the trident to him. Watching from the top of the auditorium the ever so biased Cervello judges were watching idly before jumping down.

"This is a guardian only battle. There cannot be any substitutions." One spoke.

Mukuro looked at the one who spoke and chuckled. They watched as Chrome also handed over the Mist Ring.

" Kufufufu. Though I don't like picking up someone's mess or admitting it. I am afraid that I am the Mist guardian to this nutshell family." He said.

The Cervello's looked at one another. They all looked the same but they were not the same ones that had judged the ring battle with the Varia group. Unsure on how to call it they looked towards Tsuna to comply for an solid answer. All Tsuna could mustered was a simple nod. With that alone Mukuro went onto the floor. Chrome turned and watched as she went by the female. She looked at her with a slight blush thinking she was really pretty. Tsuna finally noticed it as well, but wasn't sure if he should ask who she was or watch the fight, but one thing was certain. He was glad Hibari wasn't around.

"Please continue the battle." Spoke the Cervello.

They cleared the floor and the battled started up again. The cloak figure seemed to be at a loss. This new opponent seemed way different than the young girl. Stronger and more blood thirsty almost. He was only going easy on the girl in hope of knocking her out and it would be his victory, but now he was gonna have to actually get serious. The female looked at Chrome and then at Mukuro.

"So what's going on? I thought you guys had a battle for the rings?" She asked.

Chrome seemed shocked that she knew. Tsuna was the one that was about to answer but was stopped by Reborn. Chrome fidgeted nervously and shuffled under the female gaze as she glanced back at her.

"I-it's basically a guardian fight. The way boss explained it was some sort of Mafia tournament for head of the overall Mafia." She said quietly.

"Are they that bored?" She said bluntly.

"R-reborn-San said it was a common thing but this time there is more at stake but hasn't said much else." Chrome said.

"Sounds like the Mafia." She responded

"Would you two mind?" Mukuro said

He looked back at the two. Chrome lowering her head and the other simply smiling lightly at him. He turned back and looked at his opponent. It was obvious that this wasn't going to be a problem for him. With a twist and spin of the trident the illusions broke out. Lava erupted from the floor and rained lava rocks. Upon hitting the ground the rocks burned and caught fire to the floor. The heat was all too real. Tsuna flailed and dodged the flying rocks to avoid getting burnt.

"What is he thinking? Is he trying to burn the place down?" Gokudera commented.

"I think he's excited." The female said

Gokudera looked at the female and sneered. He rushed to Tsuna hearing him scream as a lava rock came flying at him. Pushing him out of the way the female watched in amusements. It wasn't much longer with the flashy opening that Mukuro and the cloaked opponent started to fight. His eye changed entering the fourth path. The kanji becoming line with a deeper red light. His aura exploded in a huge burst. Surrounding him in a cyclone of power mist flames entwined with a dark dark aura Tsuna's color ran from his skin sensing how strong his aura was. The first time they fought it wasn't that strong. Reborn looked towards the estranged female who was watching intently. Mukuro struck his opponent fiercely. Without any time to react the material of the cloak started to rip as Mukuro cut through it.

"Kufufufu, You seem so boring suddenly." Mukuro said displeased.

"I was hoping for a better challenge."

Their was a mechanical clanking sound coming from the figure and suddenly it started to tremble and shake. Lights shined through the many rips and tears in the cloak. The sound of beeping alarmed the group as well as did the Cervello. In a blinding light a bomb went off with a loud rumble that blew out the windows and destroyed the auditorium. Tsuna and the others huddled together in fear of the falling debris, but nothing ever touched them. Barely opening his eyes Tsuna looked up. Something was swinging above them.

"A chopper blade?" He thought obliviously.

He looked around trying to find the chopper but instead spotted the girl that arrived with Mukuro. She was swing something over head in an abnormal amount of speed. Clearly with enough momentum and strength to break up the debris even more. When everything settled the item being swung started to slow. Tsuna could barely tell what it was. It looked like a chain with a weight at the end. It suddenly retracted and went towards the girl. Wrapping around her arm before she lowered her arm to her side. Tsuna felt a sense of relief from the girls rescue. Thinking she might not be a bad person. A common thing that became somewhat a habit when there were people associated with Mukuro. Chrome being the obvious only exception.

"Thanks." He said lightly.

She didn't reply and looked back to where Mukuro was during the explosions. The family of the Vongolia stared thinking in unison that there was no way anyone could survive a close range explosion not even Mukuro. Tsuna worried and fret over the loss of the mist guardian. There was a suddenly silence before a synchronized whoosh sound was heard. Black cloaks appeared the Vongolia's were surrounded.

" Dammit there's more of them." Gokudera muttered under his breath.

"This is against the rules right? They can't do this right reborn?" Tsuna asked frantically.

" unlike us Tsuna the Cervello's weren't so lucky in the explosion. Without them to watch no one can call off this ambush." Reborn stated.

Tsuna looked around as his guardian closed in ready to protect his boss. Yume looked behind and then around her. She could tell there was something off with the figures. Looking closely she could tell that some were transparent. A rather pathetic illusion, but it ruffled the other's feather.

"Don't do anything." She said calmly

" hah? Around stupid we're surrounded we need to do something or they are going to hurt juudaime." Gokudera commented.

"Check again. The majority of these aren't even real."

"Eh?" Tsuna responded baffled

He looked around and with a much more clearer, calm view his intuition could tell. Admitting she was right Gokudera and the others stood down. Yume looked around as well as did Chrome trying to find Mukuro. It was still pretty dusty from the explosion but by that point they should've been able to see figures in the dust.

"How annoying." She spoke lowly

It couldn't have anymore than five minutes before the ground started to shake. The foundation left from the explosion cracked and opened. Hissing with pressure escaped steam and heat. In all that a large figure came shooting out of the ground, landing with a crash. The cloaked figure had been defeated. After which Mukuro was the next one emerge from the earth, totally unharmed. Tsuna rushed up but kept a safe distance. He wanted to ask if Mukuro was okay but he knew better. Instead he looked over at the cloak figure. All he could see was glimpse of burnt bruised skin. It horrified Tsuna simply by seeing such little detail of the mysterious fighter. Mukuro walked past Tsuna and the others to Yume and Chrome.

"Wait!" Tsuna finally broke out.

"Is he..." He paused

" not real" Mukuro interrupted Tsuna

Mukuro chuckle and with a light tap of his trident what few figures that weren't illusion fell to the ground vanishing. In what can only be explained as sludge the remanence of the remaining figures slithered towards the crisped opponent. Sliding under the cloak themselves once all the pieces were together they formed and molded under the cloak and then deflated into nothing. It was an impossible feature, but since becoming the boss of a Mafia family Tsuna was use to weird, and the impossible. Just not to such degree.

" if you haven't notice that opponent used the explosion as a means to escape, but he was going against me and I don't fall for such cheap tricks. Yet another worthless battle with a pitiful opponent." Mukuro said arrogantly

It seemed that aside from the auditorium being totally obliterated Tsuna's night could return to normal for the time being. Or so he thought. Hearing the sound of a gun being cocked he looked towards reborn who was pointing a gun towards the female. The girl seemed unbothered by the arcobalenos' gesture and looked down at him.

"Tell me who you are." Reborn demanded.


	3. My name is Nilal

Ch.3 Nilal (Shadow)

"Tell me who you are." Reborn demanded

"Ah wait reborn. She saved us from the auditorium being destroyed. Don't be pointing-"

"Quiet Tsuna." Reborn said.

Though it was rare for Reborn to seem concern, Tsuna was able to tell. Even with Reborn's blank expression. It was true that Mukuro also wanted to know who she was. After all she did get him out of Vendicare with an extreme amount of ease, and surely it wouldn't be long lasting before the Vindice guards came looking for them. She nodded letting out a soft exhale.

"Not that it matters in this day and age but I'm a guardian." She said bluntly

Thinking they were being mock Reborn pulled the trigger. Tsuna reached out to try and stop him but was too slow. With the bullet going towards the girl in a swift motion the bullet was deflected. The sound of metal on metal. And the item to deflect Reborn's bullet was a fan. A subtle black fan with a trail of spike lining the seams. No doubt it annoyed Reborn somewhat and even ruffled up the storm guardians feather.

"I don't have time for games." Reborn said.

"Its no game" she replied.

Glancing over to Dino. The equally oblivious Cavallone leader finally showed a mild surprise expression. He recalled a room full of archives and reports. It was a Cavallone secret that even Reborn wasn't allow to know. Even the most loyalist of families to the Vongolia had their secrets. It all came in as sudden flash. Images of Dino being shown the room full of the primo's Intel and all the other Cavallone bosses. He recalled coming across a rather large tattered book the held info on the guardians, and in the back of the book was a small section on a guardian. Not as descriptive or detailed, but he clearly saw a name.

"guardiano delle ombre." He muttered.

Eyes suddenly fell onto Dino as he looked sternly but seriously at the female. Letting out a victorious _humph_ she looked at him and smiled.

"I'm amazed how much you look like him." She admitted.

Reborn for once in his life as a curse infant of infinite knowledge found himself confused. Tsuna looked to Dino as he stepped forward. Looking down at the female curiously. He scowled.

"Impossible. The guardian of shadow dis-appeared during the first fallout with the Vongolia and Cavallone primo. If you are what you claim that would make you well over two hundred fifty years old." He pointed out.

"The years have been nice to me." She said smuggishly.

Reborn fired another shot, this time she allowed it to pass by barely missing her cheek. The infant was clearly disgruntled and annoyed. Tsuna wasn't sure what he could do to settle everyone. The way Dino and the girl was staring at one another looked like they were having a telepathic conversation, while at the same time looking like they were about to fight. She looked over making eye contact with Tsuna he jumped sensing a cold chill down his back.

"Check your box when you get home. The one that came with the rings. Under the cushion there is a hollow out section it'll have another ring." She said.

Tsuna stared and nodded his head. He felt that she was telling her the truth. He would definitely be checking the box the very second he got home. She turned and went beside Mukuro and Chrome. The three left leaving Tsuna and the others confused.

"I'll be leaving as well." Dino said suddenly

Before Tsuna could say anything Dino was on his way out. He was going to go back to Italy to gather more info on the supposed shadow guardian. Soon after Tsuna and the others left as well. He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he was worried that another fight might be coming his way that wasn't part of the Mafia tournament. Reborn kept to himself riding on Tsuna's shoulder. It was weird that reborn was so quiet, and even more so Gokudera, but that was because he wasn't to thrilled that Mukuro was released and by someone claiming to be a guardian. Like the others he was only aware of seven guardians. After parting with Gokudera, Tsuna went home and straight to his room with silent footsteps, he didn't want to wake up his mother. He went for the Vongolia box that he had hid under his bed.

"You're really going to believe her?" Reborn finally spoke.

" I don't know, but I feel like she wasn't lying." He said.

" lying or not if she helped Mukuro break out of Vendicare it is only a matter of time before they come for both her and Mukuro."

Tsuna looked at reborn and it suddenly dawned on him. "That's right by now the Vindice guards should be on the move." He thought. Regardless Tsuna opened the box and removed the cushion. Using his finger he tapped along the bottom of the box. When he reached the center he heard the sound of hollow wood.

"Reborn?" He said

Looking at his tutor, Reborn jumped onto Tsuna's bed. Tsuna tapped the hollow spot a few more times before a small portion in the shape of a square popped out. With very little dust escaping through the crevices Tsuna removed the piece and inside was a black steel band. It didn't look anything like the other rings. Tsuna felt better knowing it was true that there was a ring in the box like she said. Reborn even seemed surprised, but didn't show it. Reborn jumped and took the ring from Tsuna, observing it while ignoring Tsuna's protest. The ring was made for a girl, there was no doubt but since it didn't look like any other the other rings he was skeptical.

"Tomorrow you're going to pay them a visit. Before anything else happens we need some answers." Reborn said.

...

Over in kokuyo Mukuro and the others returned. Ken and Chikusa were astonished seeing their leader return. Now they didn't have to deal with Chrome. Well not entirely true Chrome was still going to be around him, even if they didn't approve of it. After giving Chrome grief they finally look towards the other female. Mukuro went over to his couch and sat down as Ken walked around the new comer curiously. Sniffing her out. She watched his every move but wasn't bothered by him in the least.

"Neh Mukruro, who is this? Byon" Ken asked

"I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure but she broke me out of that prison." He replied.

"Though I would like something more concrete." He added

She smiled and walked towards Mukuro turning around and sitting next to him. Ken growled at the girl seeing how arrogant she was being in sitting next to him. She was nowhere near Mukuro's equal even if she did in fact freed Mukuro from that hell hole. Ken growled at her. Mukuro found it amusing, but such actions could only be tolerated for so long. Not to mention the fact that she was another guardian of the Vongolia family, which made her more suspicious. Chrome stood in the back beside Chikusa. She didn't want to get in the way but she too was curious about the female.

"How about we start with something easy. Your real name perhaps." He asked

She didn't reply which angered Ken even more. Stepping towards her he leered down at the female. Mukuro had no intentions of stopping him if a fight was to break out. He wanted to see if she could fight, only because he was too busy with his cloaked opponent. He wasn't able to see if it was her who kept Tsunayoshi and the others safe. The one who stated they only fight if they have to. To act quickly her reflex must be very good.

" Mukuro asked you a question girly." He growled.

She didn't care that Ken was acting tough in order to scare her. To her she pictured Ken as nothing but a rabid animal. Which was pretty much accurate. With his wild mane and animal like actions. She shrugged her shoulder lightly.

"You can call me Nilal." She said

"Nilal? What kind of name is that?" Ken commented.

She sighed knowing he would react that way. Not that it bothered her. With her name finally in the light Mukuro stood up. Barely turning his head he swung his trident towards her. She vanished abruptly from her spot and then reappeared infront of him. He smiled in a twisted happiness and attempted a second assault. Nilal dodged his second attack and moved back.

"Kufufu you seem much better than that pathetic warmup I took over." He said

" I told you though I don't fight unless I have to."

"Well, in that case we need to make some changes. Your reflexes are top notch for someone who doesn't fight." Mukuro said

Nilal stared at him as him lowered his trident sitting back on the couch leisurely stretching out, It felt much better than floating in a tank or loitering around in his own illusions. Everyone aside from Nilal left Mukuro to rest. Though both Ken and Chrome seemed to be more against leaving the new comer alone with him. Chikusa seemed like the only one who didn't care, it was too much of a trivial matter for him to deal with. His eyes opened when the couch motioned abit as she sat down infront of the couch on the floor, her legs pulled to her chest.

"What's your plan now?" She asked.

"Not sure tell me what yours is." He responded

"I don't have anything planned, I am merely a pawn. You tell me what my plan is."

Mukuro Kufufufu'd with a smile on his face. A pawn wouldn't call themselves a pawn unless they were incredibly stupid. Nilal had proven not to be stupid. She laid her head back on the edge of the couch. The top of her head touching his thigh. His hands rested on his stomach. Though being asleep for so long he was amazed that he would get so easily tired after one fight. Chrome and the others watched through a small crack left in the door. Ken seemed disgusted on how easily Nilal was acting around their leader. She may have gotten a few points for breaking him out but nothing else. Chrome though seemed rather jealous of the female and how casual acted.

"Tell me again about this amplify ability is that you have. I assume that just from first hand it's rather simple?"

" pretty much. As I've mentioned it enhances abilities. Mixed with your ability to create real illusion, when it's amplified you can pretty much rip the line between reality and illusions. Since illusions themselves pretty much bend reality it's easy to break the barrier between the two if one is strong enough." She explained.

"And arriving at the auditorium where the fight was held?" He asked

"That was probably because of your connection with Chrome. We arrived where she was, if you had cut ties with her we probably would've ended up somewhere, maybe even here. It's wherever your strongest ties are."

"And my fourth path? Though I appear rather tired I still feel like given the chance I could take on more opponents" He said

"The amplifying varies with different people. Sometimes the amplified abilities can last anywhere from four hours to as low as 5 minutes. The longest one if I recall lasted two days, but there's a severe amount of factors involved. Mostly on how much energy they use up. If they don't use much to begin with then what happens is when amplified it explodes in one huge burst, you've been in a stasis tank for two years right? Without contacting that Chrome girl your energy stored itself, probably another reason on why it was so easy to rip illusions and reality apart." She explained.

Mukuro glanced down at Nilal who looked back up at him. He smirked and let a scoff out. Closing his eyes. Nilal soon felt something chilling slithering behind her. She looked down and watched as a large snake called upon by Mukuro started to wrap around her. She squirmed watching the serpent. It gripped her tightly, binding her arms to her side.

"I answered your question and your still going to try and kill me?" She asked.

"No" he said casually but with an apathetic tone.

"But it did just dawn on me on how long we have before the vendice guards find us. In which case if it's anytime soon I plan to kill you before they have a chance to capture us. So I can go back to my peaceful coexistence within my own world." He said

"You shouldn't have to worry about them." She said straining for air.

Mukuro sat up staring at her watching as the serpent started to bind around her neck. It's forked tongue flicked her cheek smelling her out. The snakes head reared back as it mocked a strike towards Nilal.

" if you can tell me why then I might let you go." He said

"How is my own business but know that if you kill me now they will find you." She gasped.

The snake suddenly vanished leaving Nilal gasping for air. Her chest ached as she coughed. With her head lowered the tip of the trident pressed against the nape of her neck. Even with quick reflexes she wouldn't be able to dodge with the way she was positioned.

" I like to cover all my bases if I die then they will find you in a matter of seconds and it's not like they would overlook this place"

"I can tell already you are going to be a very annoying pawn." He said bitterly.

He removed the trident from her nape now with Mukuro sitting up she turned and rested her head on the couch looking up at him. She smiled happily knowing she had the upper hand at the moment. Mukuro didn't seem too thrilled with a "pawn" playing him as such. But he decided to let it slide for the time being. Sooner or later he would get her to answer his questions. Nilal crossed her arms under her chin. She knew she had irritated him but that was all on him. After a moments of awkward silence Mukuro came to an idea.

" alright I know what to do." He said.


	4. Missione

Ch.4 Missione

The next day Tsuna was at school lost in thought. He wasn't sure how he was going to do what Reborn had asked that other. I got. It almost seemed pointless to him. With Gokudera and Yamamoto looking at Tsuna concerned for their friend/boss. It ate at them greatly, but only Gokudera knew half of it. Even he had a rough night trying to sleep knowing Mukuro was out and roaming around. Though Tsuna assured him before they parted yesterday that he would be fine he was still watchful of his boss. Waiting to act if Mukuro or the girl tried something.

Flash back...

"Tomorrow after school go to Kokuyo and speak with that girl." Reborn said

Tsuna was curled up behind his blanket. It was obvious he didn't want to go, because Mukuro was going to be there. And when he brought it up Reborn explained to Tsuna that all he would need to do is ask to speak to her one on one and use the ring as leverage. Reborn was very clear and even emphasized as he told Tsuna NOT to let her have the ring at any cost. Easier said then done he thought. And what was worse was Reborn wasn't going to be around if things went south. It might be the one chance for Mukuro to take over his body. If that happened then the girl would have her ring back and then some. As much as he protested by 10 at night Tsuna caved and agreed to go, only if he could take Yamamoto and Gokudera. They could keep watch while Tsuna and the girl spoke. Reborn agreed making sure the ring was in his uniform pants pocket so he wouldn't forget it. After which Reborn crawled up into his canopy and fell asleep instantly. Tsuna turned his lights off and laid in his bed. He was staring up at the ceiling. He felt nervous, returning to Kokuyo to speak to someone he barely knew who appeared to be stronger than she led on.

End...

Glancing down at his pocket where the ring was to keep it safe, Tsuna sighed heavily sinking into his seat. He really didn't want to go there and really didn't want to be around Mukuro and his bunch. It would be three on four if Gokudera and Yamamoto went, butnitnwould still be a disadvantage with an unknown opponent. Yamamoto looked at Tsuna and smiled. Because of a game Yamamoto wasn't able to accompany Tsuna to last nights battle.

"So how did it go?" He asked

"G-good. I uh...suppose...Mukuro ended up showing up to save Chrome." Tsuna said with a stale smile.

"No kidding, but that's good right? That means Chrome wasn't hurt?" Yamamoto said.

"Stupid he showed up with out taking over. And what's worse is that he had some new lackey with her claiming to be a guardian." Gokudera said irritated.

Yamamoto laughed off Gokudera's insult as usual as class shortly began. There wasn't much time to talk as the teacher started in on his lecture. All the while Tsuna was lost in thought. He was worried about going to Kokuyo land and even more scared even with Gokudera and Yamamoto with him, though he hadn't asked them just yet, but he knew Gokudera would go without question, but Yamamoto had practice practically everyday after school. Their baseball team was working toward the championship and Yamamoto being their ace player, had a lot riding on him and with this stupid Mafia tournament taking place it would hurt Tsuna more than anything if Yamamoto got hurt and was unable to play after working so hard. Without realizing it from all his worries Tsuna had fallen asleep in his class. He shortly found himself standing on a beach overlooking the waves. He felt that where he was, wasn't a dream. No it felt too real and convincing for a dream. An illusion? thought. The quiet sound of the waves and smell of the ocean with the breeze felt pleasant. If it was real he would've been happier instead of paranoid about the scenery. He heard the sound of sand being shuffled as he turned around. His eyes wide and he fell backwards.

"Hiiiii"

He looked up seeing the girl from last night. Though she didn't look anything like she did yesterday she looked softer looking, younger, big eyes and short hair wearing a Namimori school uniform. He wasn't sure on what to do, if anything he was suddenly stunned from the shock. The girl stopped and looked down at him. The sun was reflecting off her hair. Similar to when she showed up infront of Mukuro looking like a doll, for Tsuna she appeared to him as a younger much more gentler type of girl, but the gap from the real her and the her here was unsettling.

"Um...I...uh.." He babbled.

"Is it more difficult to talk with me looking like this? You like soft type girls right?" She asked

"A...no...I mean well...sorta... Er well I mean the form is...eh..."he rambled

"Alright."

Tsuna watched as she suddenly changed her appearance. From the cute appearance to her normal self. With a more clearer less hectic scenery the girl looked slightly older with a more mature looking figure still wearing Namimori uniform, it was hard to tell she was 16. He felt even more awkward now, mainly cause her eyes had this strange intensity in them. He wasn't sure on how to describe it exactly, other than piercing. He crawled back away from her. She didn't move forward or anything and just watched him. He finally stood up and dusted himself off when he felt comfortable. Why he had his head lowered he didn't even know. His eyes glancing up to her. He took a deep breath and rose his head.

"I-I have your ring with me." He said

"Oh? I guess that means we need to make some sort of arrangement then." She said.

He nodded sternly. As long as it was an illusional world he couldn't be harmed. This could be the only place where he could be as reckless as he could get, but with an unknown opponent he didn't want to risk being too demanding of her. She was strong enough to swing a weird weapon with such momentum and power to shatter large building pieces. He couldn't even think on what else she could do.

"I have to meet with you alone. I have some questions.. Though I will have two of my friends with me as company." He said

"You and Mukuro both." She said tiredly

"Well seeings how you actually have something I would like back. I'll answer only what I want, but your are free to ask what ever you desire and as many as you want." She said.

"Alright then. Where do you want to meet?" Tsuna asked

"I'll be up on the roof top during your lunch you are free to come up there and I don't care if you want to bring others. I have no intentions of fighting."

Well that was a calming peace of mind, if she didn't want to fight' then perhaps this would be more smoothly than at first thought. With a place set the illusion Tsuna was in vanished and washed away like water. Tsuna finally sat up from his seat just as the bell was ringing. He had slept through first hour, but at least he accomplished one thing. During their small interval Tsuna went ahead and told Gokudera and Yamamoto on what him and Nilal agreed one. Naturally Gokudera was going to go. If it was just her then he wouldn't have a problem dealing with her if she tried anything funny. Yamamoto agreed to go as well, only because it sounded like fun. When lunch arrived Tsuna and the others headed up to the rooftop. Opening the door the blinding light shined down on Nilal. She still had on the Namimori uniform. Gokudera closed the door behind glaring harshly at the girl. Tsuna walked up to her standing across from her. That intensity in her eyes was stronger in person and with more focus. He eased up only slightly when he noticed that her right eye though purple seemed different from her left. Tsuna reached into his pocket and held up the black band ring. Gokudera was surprised to see another ring but it looked nothing like his or the others.

"Alright ask what you want. Keep in mind a boss's word is his bond, if you try anything funny or your friends. We will have problems." Nilal said.

"Right, and as a former Mafia member of the Vongolia you are still to answer my question truthfully." Tsuna replied.

" I'm aware decimo."

"First off your name."

"Nilal"

"Alright, how did you break Mukuro out?"

" withdrawn."

"Ok. What are you wanting."

"Nothing." 

"Oi! Juudaime is asking you questions so start answering him." Gokudera shouted.

"They're not his questions, they are the arcobalenos. As we agreed I would only answer what I want, but you have unlimited questions. Now let me ask. What are you yourself wanting to ask Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna paused. He knew that it would be obvious that the questions would lead back to Reborn. He didn't have much of his own. He pretty much wanted to know her name for the most part, anything else he didn't know how to go about asking it. It was an interrogation of sort and he was doing a crappy job, even with a handicap of him being able to ask anything.

" er well...how did you know about this ring?"

"Hm? Weren't you paying attention yesterday? That ring was originally mine. That's why I knew where or was. Giotto kept it hidden for various reason. Mainly he didn't want other to know about an eighth guardian. When he already had seven."

"That's only half true." He thought

"Why isn't it like that others? With the signs and what not?" Tsuna asked

"How do you symbolized a shadow on a ring? A black steel band works just as well. I don't need a symbol. But if you are curious I can show you what it looks like.

Nilal held her hand to Tsuna wanting the ring. Hesitant at first Tsuna looked to both Gokudera and Yamamoto. They were both on guard of the female ready to strike if she tried anything. Tsuna clenched his fist around the ring and stepped forward. He was cautious and even debated on not giving her the ring. He paused still gripping the ring tightly. He looked at her as she stared him down. There was no since of trickery or deceit in her gaze. No it was just the same intensity as before. He handed her the ring and Nilal took it and placed it on her right middle fingering.

"If you remember each ring has its own flame right? Their individual flames control and do different things. However because this ring was never brought to light. It's full ability is untapped. Where as your friend over there has his skull launcher or bow, and the other with his sword. This one is its own weapon. Without the use of any box."

The band started to glow as black flames climbed up her arm, wrapping around her forearm. Tsuna and the other watched carefully as the flames formed a shape. It was chilling on how it appeared that the flames had a mind of its own. The ring had formed chains linked from the ring to her wrist and then to a piece of material climbed up that ended at her elbow. Down the material was flat studs and chainmail, hooks latching on end to end. It was a handflower. A simple ring became a handflower in a matter of seconds. Gokudera was more shocked but also more distraught he didn't want to admit that it looked cool. Now there was another troublesome questionable guardian, as if Mukuro and Hibari wasn't enough. Nilal stared at her arms and the handflower. Such a nostalgic items brought a light smile to her face. She soon pulled the ring off and the handflower turned into smoke as she handed it back to Tsuna. Which actually surprised Tsuna, he half expected her to keep it, or take off with it.

"It was meant to be somewhat of pinpoint for my ability because when I was in the Mafia I had issues with my power. The ring was something that Giotto gave me that also signaled me as a guardian, aside from that he also had his team make me other items to help me.

"Other items?" Tsuna questioned.

"That fan in used to ricochet the baby's bullet and the surujin I used to break up the falling building pieces. Not only that but... you could tell right? Staring at me so intently since you've got here and even in the illusion. My right eye is slightly darker. It's not noticeable unless you already know about it or stare at my eyes for an extended period of time. This contact I wear was another gift from him."

Nilal covered her right eye with her hand. Tsuna held onto the ring but didn't pocket it. He hadn't asked about the contact but if she was willing to share on her own than he would listen. He hoped that what she did tell him would be enough for Reborn even if they weren't answers that he was wanting. She lowered her hand and in the palm was a purple contact. She looked at Tsuna with her right eye was closed. Tsuna was soon over come with worry fearing that she might have the same eye as Mukuro. Two people with paths of reincarnations would be a problem.

"Try to l look but don't look directly ok same for your friends too." Nilal said.

Tsuna wasn't sure on how he was going to look, but not all the while he was thinking on how she randomly removed the contact without doing it the proper way. His line of sight went to the side of Nilal. Whatever she was about to show him he would have to be careful not to look directly at apparently. The same with Gokudera and Yamamoto they turned their focus on Tsuna. Nilal slowly opened her eye. Tsuna was having a hard time making out what it was that she was showing through his peripheral vision. With her eye fully open Tsuna could barely see, it looked like smudged silver. Why would she tell him not to look if she had to different eye colors, Mukuro's eyes were two colors. Not like she had some scary kanji symbol as her pupil right? He started to turn his gaze onto her.

"Is that what is wa-"...


	5. Real illusions

Just as he looked towards her the pupil in her silver eye pulsed and then shrunk until it was gone. Staring directly into her eye Tsuna passed out before he could even finish his sentence. Gokudera and Yamamoto saw there boss fall to the ground with a thud. Nilal closed her right eye once more. Ready to attack her, she managed to halt their assault. Reminding them that she warned him not to look, and he did. She saw Gokudera approaching her, with murderous intent in his eyes.

"I told him not to look." She said once more apathetically.

"What did you do to juudaime?" He asked

"He's fine. He's only in an illusion. If you want me to get him out then you need to back up." She ordered.

Gokudera scowled and with the help of Yamamoto Gokudera was forced back. If it was the only way to get Tsuna back the. They would have to trust her. Nilal placed her contact lens back in before sitting beside Tsuna's unconscious body. With a simple touched to his forehead, she was gone entirely. Nilal appeared in the streets of Namimori. She could hear the sounds of people laughing and playing. Looking around she spotted Tsuna easily. Standing at the entrance of his middle school. He was watching everyone playing together Gokudera, Kyoko, Dino, and everyone else. They were laughing and playing happily. It was moments like this that Tsuna truly felt happy. His friends all hanging out together with no worries or troubles.

"You're lucky you have a good heart." Nilal said.

Tsun jumped and looked over at Nilal as she walked up to him. He smiled but looked confused. Nilal stood next to him and turned towards his friends. They paid no mind to the two. Tsuna looked up at Nilal.

"Is this what happens when people look at your right eye? It's not neccessarily anything dangerous." Tsuna said.

"If your heart is pure then no it's not much of a problem. In truth it works better on those whose hearts are dark." She said.

"But to be suddenly thrown into an illusion startled me. I ended up tripping and hurting my knee while I was looking for a way out."

" the only way out is if I bring you out. If I'm not around then you can never leave, but when we return you'll see how my illusions are different from most."

"Um actually if it's alright I was hoping we could talk one on one like Reborn originally wanted too." Tsuna said.

"I mean it might be easier if it's just us two? Not that I mean anything by it like your scared of Gokudera I can tell that your not. I mean look who hang out with- Not that there is anything wrong with Mukuro. I know he's actually a good guy. I mean...I'll stop now." Tsuna said embarrassed.

Nilal chuckle lightly and the illusion Tsuna saw vanished and soon his bedroom appeared. He looked around. He guessed that when it came to private talk his room was the most secretive of places. Unless you had someone like reborn around. In which case nothing was secret but reborn wasn't around. Thinking he might try it Tsuna decided to sit on his bed. He seemed surprised that it felt so natural as if he was home. Nilal was a powerful illusionist after all. With Spring creaking and the dip in the bed from his small weight he looked over. How weird he thought. Nilal sat in the floor her legs tucked under the table in the center of her room.

"Do you want something to drink?" She asked.

"Eh? I uh dont think that's possible." He said.

Nilal tapped the table and a small piece of candy appeared. She tossed it over to him as he juggled to catch it. It looked like an ordinary piece of candy wrapped in a fruit style wrapper.

" when we get ready to leave you can eat that. Now shall we talk?"

" Are you really as old as Dino claimed?"

" well technically it would 266 years. Seeing how I'm still 16. I was cryogenically frozen while imprisoned."

"You were in Vendicare before Mukuro?"

"Yep. I'll go ahead and tell you right here and now that I won't tell you what it is that I did." She said

" if it got you in it must've been horrible." Tsuna assumed.

"It was stupid." She muttered.

Tsuna looked at her before getting off his bed though it was in his hand when he passed out he could feel the ring in his pocket. Pulling it out he sat across from her placing the ring on the table. Nilal looked at it and then at Tsuna. Against Reborn's order he was going to let her have the ring back. Even though he still had more to ask her, he felt like she had told him more without having to ask. Nilal smiled and reached for the ring. Tsuna figured she would take it or so he thought. What sounded like a confuse grunt from him, Nilal pushed the ring back to him.

"I don't want it back, not yet anyways. You can use it as a way to contact me or have me do your bidding." She said.

"But the ring is important to you right? Even Mukuro didn't want to be a guardian but he still took the ring. Even though he wants to use it for his own means." He said.

"It is precious to me. And I'm extremely happy that Giotto told me he wouldn't destroy it when I was sentenced. He was a nice guy and I see a lot of him in you."

Tsuna blushed from Nilal's compliment, rubbing the back of his head. He didn't think he was exactly like him, but then again he was, especially when it came to his family and protecting others. Nilal chuckled and watched as Tsuna pocketed the ring. He did want her to have it back, since it was a limiter, but she seemed alright without it. The two went on conversing. Tsuna was careful with his questions. Though a few times he would stumble over his words. He was able to get some answers. Giotto was the one that trained her in combat. Alaude taught her espionage. Spade showed her how to control and hold her illusion, and G taught her how use her surujin. It was interesting hearing her talk about the, as if they were still around. Tsuna couldn't help though that at some questions she would cover them up by saying she couldn't exactly remember or something along that line, but Tsuna wasn't going to press the matter. With no way of keeping time in the illusion Nilal finally decided to call it quits.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Ah well, I'm not really sure on what more to ask. I feel like I've taken up a lot of your time, even though you came to me." He said.

"Like I said you can contact me through that ring. I only showed up because you were probably thinking about me, or you had planned on meeting me at some point." She said.

"You knew?" He said taken back.

"Probably one of the only reason why I showed up when you fell asleep in class."

"Oh...right.." He said.

Laughing nervously their conversation came to an end. Tsuna stood up as did Nilal. She walked over to him and held up her hand.

"That candy I gave you, you can go ahead and eat it." She said

Tsuna nodded and unwrapped the candy, popping it into his mouth. He really didn't get a chance to say anything about it as soon Nilal covered his eyes. The only thing Tsuna could see what a blinding light through the cracks of her fingers and the small part her hand didn't cover so he could see the floor. Back on the rooftop Tsuna shot up for the ground. Head butting Gokudera he fell back down holding his head in pain.

" ow ow ow." He repeated.

" Juudaime!." Gokudera said happily.

Tsuna looked at Gokudera and then at Yamamoto who was by the door. Yamamoto was prepared to go and get a teacher. He looked around and saw Nilal leaning against the fence. Just as he went to speak he tasted something sweet. Almost choking Tsuna ended up spitting into his hand he saw the candy he was given inside the illusion, but it was an illusion right? He looked at her and then recalled skinning his knee. Rolling up his pant leg Tsuna was at a loss of words seeing a skinned knee. Was it an illusion? It had to be cause he passed out on the rooftop right? And he woke up on the rooftop. So everything was an illusion.

" Anything that happens to you in an illusion casted by my silver eye happens to your physical form. That's why I said it was good that you had a pure heart. Most of the times I had to use that ability my opponents never came back, some even just vanished." Nilal explained.

"That's unsettling." Yamamoto said

Tsuna stood up, all he could do was stare at her. It convinced him even more that he was glad she wasn't an enemy, but the theory wasn't entirely ruled out. The good however was out weighing the bad at this moment. Just as the bell finished ringing the door to the roof top opened. Tsuna and the others turned and instantly Tsuna was filled with terror.

"H-Hibari-san." His voice shook.

"Class has already started, what are you herbivores doing crowding liked his. It disgusting." Hibari spoke.

He glanced over spotting the new comer against the fence. In second he drew his tonfas and approached her. Nilal moved from the fence as the two stared down.

"I don't recognize you as a student but if you insist on being punished. Kamikorosu."

Nilal moved her hand down to her skirt and lifted it slightly. Tsuna and the others blushed as she lifted it up revealing a pouch. Reaching into the small pouch she pulled out a pair of simple black leather gloves. How were black gloves suppose to protect her from Hibari's tonfas. Putting on the glove she smiled lightly.

" I heard from a friend you have something against cherry blossoms." She said with a smirk.

Hibari scowled at the mere mention of cherry blossoms. It seemed that two years didn't do anything against his vendetta towards Mukuro. Hibari struck without mercy. Tsuna gasped in fear but it was not worth the reaction. She grabbed ahold of his tonfa with her gloved hand. That was crazy, her hand should've shattered from the impact but she was perfectly fine. Hibari glared at her and swung with his second tonfa. Nilal glanced and caught it as well. It was hard to believe how strong she was against Hibari. Using his tonfas as be as she shot herself up and flipped in the air landing behind him with ease. Hibari smirked and pulled back.

"Wao You're strong." He smiled

"I'm experienced." She replied.

"Then I'll take notes after I've learned something."

With that remark Hibari struck again, but Nilal was blocking Hibari's attacks just as fast as he was dealing them. All the while with gloves. Tsuna concluded that they were perhaps yet another item the primo had given her. Hibari fell in for a closer attack, but Nilal evaded him by jumping over him and landing behind him once more. He turned around staring at her. Nilal looked around briefly as he charged at her. Swinging downwards Hibari was ontop of Nilal. Tsuna called out knowing it was going to be over.

"Hold it Tsuna." Spoke a voice.

Tsuna looked around briefly before he was suddenly landed on. Reborn had dropped in out of nowhere, in order to check up on his pupils results, though he didn't expect to see Hibari and Nilal in the middle of combat. After Tsuna recovered and scolded Reborn for landing on him. Reborn simply stared.

"Be quiet and look." Reborn said.

Tsuna looked over to wear Hibari and Nilal were. Nilal still hadn't been struck by Hibari. In fact it looked like Hibari was frozen with only his eyes and mouth able to move the disciplinary committee president was trying to figure out what happened. Nilal let out a sigh of relief and fell backwards, laying under a frozen Hibari who looked irritated. He tried to move his body but he couldn't even muster up a nudge. The most irritating thing since his fight with Mukuro. Tsuna and the others were surprised as well. And why was Nilal just laying there under him closing her eyes as if to looked ridiculous and could start some very nasty rumors at the school.

" I'm on your shadow. You can't move unless I do." Nilal said.

Glancing down Hibari could barely make out his own outline with her right ontop of it, but what was weirder is that Nilal wasn't shaded at all from his casted shadow. It was as if the shadow went right through her, or it was her own shadow. Nilal sat up but still remained in his shadow.

"I have no intentions of fighting, which is why I dodged as much as I can. Sadly though I am simply out of time and on a rather tight schedule." Nilal said.

She looked over a Tsuna and with a smile she vanished sinking deep into the shadow as it engulfed her. Once gone Hibari was free to move. Catching his footing as he looked around, gripping his weapon tightly. He was more than just irritated. To be defeated a second time, was inexcusable. He would make her pay the next time he saw her. He glanced back at Tsuna who ducked behind Gokudera. Without a single word Hibari left the rooftop. The door slamming behind him.


	6. Different

Nilal returned to the Kokuyo hide out. Ken and Chikusa were out, and Chrome surprisingly enough started attending school, and wouldn't be back for awhile. She walked into the run down auditorium where Mukuro was waiting patiently for Nilal to walk in. He looked up and smiled as she approached him. Though still in Namimori's uniform it quickly turned back into her rendition of Kokuyos uniform.

"So how did it go?" Mukuro asked.

Nilal stared him wishing that he didn't seem so serious when asking her such a rhetorical question. She stopped in front of and stared. Seriously what was with the stupid question

"It went the way I thought it would. He is too nice for his own good." She said.

"he didn't offer you the ring?"

"No, he did and I told him to keep it like you wanted." Nilal said.

"Kufufu, well it's a start, but from my perspective he already trusts you and considers you an "ally." Mukuro said.

" aren't I lucky." She said sarcastically

There really was no point in her going there to talk to him, when she thought about it. She could've waited for him, but it seemed Mukuro wanted his "mission" out of the way, and as an added bonus she had to deal with Hibari. In fairness though Mukuro did warn her that Namimori had some interesting people. Including a fighting maniac. His skill were good she wouldn't deny but he could still improve.

"Oh that's right." She said.

Nilal told Mukuro about her encounter with Hibari. Mukuro was naturally interested in a monster like him. His smile widen only slightly when she said what she did. In short it was a tactical retreat leaving like that, but to freeze him in place by simply being on his shadow. Though Nilal could've won with Hibari frozen. Mukuro stood up holding onto his trident and smiled. He didn't think it was fair for Hibari to experience something already so rare as a fight with Nilal, and on their first meeting too. It just wasn't fair to him. He swung his trident and Nilal dodged.

"This again?" She said.

"Kufufu. I can't help it I'm hie alois that you fought with Hibari so casually ." He said.

"I told you I didn't fight him though so what does it matter?"

"Just humor me, I've been bored for two whole years with no excitement. Indulge me."

"I can think of a number of things to do to indulge you, that doesn't include fighting."

"Not interested." He responded bluntly

Mukuro charged sprinting towards Nilal. She regretted telling him about her encounter, she should've known better. Luckily she hadn't removed her gloves as she grabbed hold of his trident as he swung down. The sheer impact Mukuro had behind his swing cause a small crater under Nilal. She looked down and then at him. He was smiling like a mad man. He could tell she was stronger than that mechanical questionable being from last night. Within second Nilal vanished as the trident slammed into the ground. Mukuro paused and looked around.

"Kufufu that's a pretty neat trick. Nilal, do you plan on making me wait until I get bored?" He asked

Nilal emerged from the shadow left by the ragged curtains in the auditorium. He turned around with his right eye engulfed in the mist flames it wasn't as powerful as it was the other night. It seemed her amplifying ability wasn't working, but no matter. Mukuro concluded that if he was attacking the amplifier itself then it wouldn't work in his favor. His eye changed to the first path as the illusion broke out. Nilal moved but wasn't at all concern. She was also an illusionist so it wouldn't work on her, but that's what Mukuro wanted. With the illusion breaking out he struck from within. Using them as cover he attacked. His trident pierced her side. Nilal gasped from the pain. With a swift motion Mukuro ripped the trident out, and Nilal fell to the ground. Staring at her body he started to laugh.

"amazing. I haven't experienced such excitement since that delinquent Kyoya. You're really not that much more different." He said.

He turned around seeing another Nilal coming out from another shadow. The one Mukuro had attacked was an illusion as black smoke seeped out from the wound inflicted on it. His own illusions vanished and he charged at her again. The most excitement he has had in ages. It was a true warm up. He swung the trident once more and Nilal moved away as it slammed into the ground. When she moved to the side. He used his trident as a vault to deliver a kick. Nilal grabbed his leg. He smiled and spun as his other leg came up. She bent her head to the side avoiding a possible dangerous attack and then flung Mukuro towards the wall. Smiling like a maniac he happily crashed into the wall. Though unharmed there was yet another crater left from his impact. Nilal walked up to him as he stood up.

"You have no idea how excited this makes me knowing I have such a monster at my disposal." He said.

"I think I got the idea. So are we done? Are you satisfied." She asked.

"For now, but do expect an attack every now and then when I get bored." He said.

"If that's what you want then I guess I don't have much of a choice."

Mukuro chuckled and stretched. Turning away from Nilal he yawned. Again he was tired, true though he didn't sleep any, including yesterday when he tried to rest, but being back out in the real world He didn't want to waste it sleeping. Nilal leaned in to look at his face, walking past him she sighed.

"I've been thinking that this place is abit too gloomy to try and relax. How about we change the inside some?" She asked.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked.

"Something not as condemned perhaps, maybe something that looks abit better." She said.

"Interesting, but what do you plan on doing?"

Nilal turned around and grabbed the tip,of the trident. The symbols that had appeared the first time reappeared. The markings trailed down and onto his hand. He watched and stared at her.

" I honestly don't care if you and the boys want anything in particular and if you do it'll appear, but I'm sure Chrome would liked some thing abit better to sleep in as would I." She said.

Mukuro's right eye already left on "one" glowed as the entire inside of the building started to warp and change, well some of it. The auditorium and run down halls stayed as is but some of the blown out rooms changed into bedrooms for everyone, others merged making a training room, probably for Ken, a library for Chikusa and even the cafeteria changed and warped into a small kitchen with utensils. Mukuro could feel the changes in the building and when it was all done Nilal removed her hand. The trident had sliced the palm of her hand for such heavy illusion to happen and become real. Nilal ripped part of her skirt and wrapped it around her hand. Just barely enough to slow it down.

"Again it seems I've been used." Mukuro commented.

"Far from it, you wanted something alittle better to right? It's easier and doesn't take much if the needs are mutual." Nilal said.

Mukuro switched his staff into his other hand and grabbed Nilal's wrist holding it up to look at her hand. The blood was already bleeding through the thin material. For a split second he thought of concept of possessing her to get the answers he wanted from her, but she was too amusing and didn't want to lose such an interesting toy.

"Will this be enough?" He asked

Referring to the blood stained material Nilal shooked her head. It was a trick with her abilities, even if the needs were mutual. Depending how much was going to changed required certain amounts of blood. Though the first time she was an illusion inside an illusion so the cut on her finger may as well had never existed,but the one on her palm was real and would take awhile to heal. Mukuro pressed on the center roughly and Nilal flinched from the throbbing pain it brought on. As the blood stained through more.

"Kufufu, everything that you've been through and a simple press on a wound makes you flinch? Amusing." He said.

"It's a fresh cut, yes it's going to hurt some." She replied.

Mukuro slammed the end of his trident into the ground hard enough for it to stick standing up. He removed the cloth as it went to the floor. Her blood pooled in her palm. With the dim lighting in the auditorium her blood looked much darker. A deep pool of Crimson. It trickled over her palm and onto his hand. Mukuro pulled his hand back and without giving it a single thought licked the tiny stream of blood on his hand off, Before ripping a part of his own uniform off. Bandaging her hand tightly. Nilal was suspicious of his random act of kindness, and even more suspicious by the fact that he just licked her blood clean off his hand with no hesitation. This guy seriously had some screws loose. The torn section of his uniform repaired itself with the help of an illusion, fixed like new he let her hand go. His material was much more thicker and could bind the wound better than that from her skirt.

"Your first mission was a success and you managed to kill off my boredom. You're welcome to rest or do as you please until I need you, but don't wonder off too far."he said.

"And where am I to go exactly? I don't know this area at all without some sort of image in my head. And there is no point going anywhere myself. I think I'll just rest, and you should do the same." She said.

Taking a step back she bowed her head and left. Mukuro watched her as she left. Still grinning arrogantly. Indeed she was an annoying pawn, but an amusing one if nothing else. Deciding to take her up on her suggestion he went over to his couch once more and stretched out. He fell asleep surprisingly quick, feeling content from his little spar with her. As Nilal walked along the halls of the building wandering around. She seemed to be searching for something in particular. She stopped outside a room that read "nurses office." She opened the sliding door and inside was anything but a nurses office set up. With the help of her and Mukuro's ability the room had changed into a small bedroom. Typical style for a girl, with very subtle taste aside from the dim lighting that had the room shrouded in shadows, just to her liking. She yawned tiredly and walked in closing the door before jumping onto the bed. Just like Mukuro, Nilal soon passed out from exhaustion.


	7. Guardiano delle Ombre

"After The Cavallone Decimo returned to Italy, he informed his closes subordinate Romario of what he witnessed while in Japan. Much like Dino himself, Romario was in disbelief. Dino made his way down the halls of his home. His other subordinates could tell he was in a rush and cleared a path. All the while Dino kept thinking that it wasn't possible. There was no way it was possible. Cursed infants, shape changing chameleon, even the six paths of reincarnation, Dino could make peace with such nonsense, but only because there was an explanation behind the nonsense. As convoluted as it was, it made since, but someone claiming to be a guardian back during the primo Vongolia. He couldn't seem to accept it. Though he knew something of her name, he didn't know much else. If she was frozen for so long then She would've been dead regardless. Over two hundred years of suspended animation, should've killed her, and if not then she shouldn't have the motor skills she has now, acting as if she's been up and running all this time. He stopped outside a room and rolled up sleeve.

"Romario make sure no one bothers me unless it's my little brother."Dino ordered.

"Romario bowed his head and turned on his heels and left. Dino reached out grabbing the knob to the door. As he did a small port opened up. A blue light shined on his tattoos, scanning the markings of the Cavallone. The port closed and there was a sound of tumblers turning and clicking. He opened the door and went inside. The room was covered in a mountain of books, all written by every boss of the Cavallone. Soon Dino would have to write one. The room was fairly large. Enough to house 9 generations of history, and it would only expand. Dino made his way down the shelves the Primo's work being at the very end of the room. His case had to have been the largest. Being the first and having to make so many decision and laws for the Cavallones to follow. With so many books Dino couldn't remember which one exactly had the shadow guardian in it. Large and tattered. They were all pretty much like that. So much for his memory. He cursed under his breath thinking that if this sort of thing was going to happen he would've wrote down the book, but what were the chances. He started pulling books off the shelf to flip through them.

"Some hours later Dino was coming to a dead end. All the books he picked only mentions her code name but nothing more. It angered Dino that the primo didn't have as much on her as he did the other guardians. He knew that back then Vongolia and Cavallone weren't on the best terms and would have spies and what not gather info and that's how most of these book came to be. Sitting at a desk that was placed behind the shelves Dino felt like giving up. Slamming his head on the desk. His eyes wide. As the desk creaked it suddenly collapsed from the impact as he fell forward. Dino groaned in pain and sat up rubbing his head.

My head isn't that heavy." He muttered.

He looked down and saw a piece of paper under him. He moved and saw that as thin as the desk was, it was hollowed and inside were papers. Dino seemed surprised and carefully removed the papers. Glancing over them he noticed that it was on the guardian of the shadow. But it appeared different than the others. It seemed that the pages were written with the intentions of being a journal entry rather than what the others were. Sitting on top of the shattered desks remains, Dino started to read the pages.

It seems that once again I found myself going up against the Guardiano delle ombre. A rather young looking child but filled with more fight and spirit then any of the other guardians. What a stubborn brat. Tonight we made an arrangement that the victor would tell the loser information/emem, but I made it clear that I would not have a child's blood on my hands. I figured she respected my statement and in exchange promised not to kill me. Though I can't picture a young girl capable of murder... I figured as much. The fight was my victory against her. I know I should've asked a more important question regarding the Vongolia family, but I was more curious about her. A young juvenile that was involved with the Mafia. At most the youngest member in my family was 17, but she looked younger. I asked for her real name. "Nilal" she told me. It was interesting that her name was an older, and practically a dead language meaning Shadow. The guardian of the shadow was named shadow. She didn't like the fact that I found it amusing by such connection, but I assured her I wouldn't address her so casually. We came to the agreement tonight, that if we encounter each other once again. I would call her Ombra, and she would call me Kattu Kutirai. Which she said meant "wild horse" in her language. She left soon after that and I returned home.

Dino was completely at a lost for words or thought. It made since as to why she made that comment she did when she first saw him. "You look so much like him." It also seemed to stop his breathing. It confirmed that the girl wasn't lying, but it raised more questions? Though he didn't actually get her real name on their first meeting. The primo could not have been talking about anyone else, but that girl He shuffled through some more of the pages before settling for another page.

Today wasn't my day. It seemed that Ombra had finally got a chance to ask me for information. The numbing sensation I can barely make out from her attack and the metallic taste in my mouth. Not once have I ever tasted my own blood in combat. Truly her skills are growing at a ridiculous rate. Though she is still young and fragile in appearance it seems her eyes are hiding a monster behind them. It had actually been awhile since our last encounter, but she never completely vanished. The subordinates that returned confirmed that the one that injured them was Ombra. It made since now. Though I wasn't thrilled that she used my subordinates as practice dummies. I thought at first she was avoiding me, cause I hadn't seen her in so long. I remember waiting for her question, but after which not much else. How pathetic, I must've passed out. I woke up in a small house bandaged, with my wounds treated. Ombra was sleeping in a chair. It was funny she must've fallen asleep while guarding me. The young Ombra must've undressed me, because I didn't have my shirt on. Rather brave of her. While she slept I couldn't help but look around. The place she took me must've been a safe house of the sort. I found a stack of papers on a desk. Intel on me and the Cavallone family. Some of it was accurate even though she had just won her first match with me. She must've gotten it from my subordinate when she defeated them. I'm surprised she hadn't turned it into the Vongolia primo. With all she had they could easily take us down. I was nice enough to wait for her to wake up before I asked her. When she refused to answer my question I couldn't help but get rather rough with her. It was as if she was teasing me, while making my family out to be some sort of joke. Wth her pinned against the wall my weapon to her throat. I didn't even realize what I had done until it was over. After that I don't remember anything other than staring into an endless void painted in silver.

"An endless void painted in silver? Was it his life, no he clearly was still alive? Strange." Dino muttered

Hoping to find some more papers Dino broke more of the desk. Tearing the wood bit by bit. He found 5 more pages that was written by the Cavallone Primo. There was a knock on the door as Dino stood up to answer it. Romario bowed his in respect, while holding a tray.

.I've brought you a drink and some snacks boss, perhaps you would like a break?" Romario asked

"Can't say I wouldn't mind a drink." He said

"Dino allowed Romario to enter the room as his eye saw the broken desk. Dino briefly explained to him what he had found literally inside the desk. How smart of the primo to do such a thing, but why did he hide the info of the shadow guardian. Well not technically information, but it held some light on who she was. He held up another page taking a sip from his cup. Dino dropped his cup as it shattered on the floor Romario looked over seeing his young boss surprised beyond compare. Curious Romario loomed over his shoulder. Soon he too was surprised by what he had read.

The young Ombra had finally turned 16. Though It was a shame that it was such a blood cover day. Bodies upon bodies were left comatose and wounded. A surprise attack from one of our alliance. A mere 16 year old covered head to toe in blood. I know this because after which she came and paid a personal visit to my chambers. I was mortified seeing a young lady covered in blood, standing in my window. She didn't look to thrill in the slightest. Despite that I refused to hear her out until she washed up. Surprisingly she listened and did as I requested. I left one of my shirts hanging on the door knob for her. Unsure on what to do with her blood drenched clothes I bagged them up. When she came out I wasn't at all surprised that my shirt was large on her. Though she was in my room with the window the only exit she sat across from me as if my home was hers. She told me about the ambush from an alliance of mine. My apology didn't seem to mean much but in my defense I did not arrange an ambush on her. The Ombra and I had become quite fond of each other to the point that we would just talk when we came across one another. It wasn't even about work or the mafia at all. I came to learn that she enjoyed cooking and her favorite dessert was banana pudding muffins. Along with a few other things but those two in particular was something I wasn't expecting. We started to drift further from our conversation into more idle chatter. She must've been exhausted from the fight. She fell asleep in mid sentence. With no ill manners intended I carried her to my bed to rest. What a strong girl. She had her arms around me. I guess she thought that me putting her down was equivalent to falling. Haaaa...I'm a complete disgrace to myself and my family. Taking advantage in such a moment. I guess my intentions were ill. I kissed the young Ombra in her sleep. Her eyes shot open catching me in my crime. I feared that even without a weapon she could still greatly injure me. Her arms around my neck tighten and pulled me close. Whether or not her real intentions for coming here was in hope of this or not. That night for her birthday. We shared our first night together.


	8. Intermission brawl

Ch.8 Intermission Brawl

When the weekend arrive Tsuna was anything but excited. The new match up coming up would be delivered by the Cervello's in a matter of hours. He feared that Yamamoto might have to fight, or worse...Lambo. Tsuna was so depressed by the idea that he didn't even want to get out of bed. He wanted to lay there and try to sleep past the weekend entirely. The only thing stopping him was Reborn. Swiping down out of nowhere kicking the young teen straight out of bed. Typical wake up call from him. He sat up holding his cheek.

"Reborn!" He yelled.

"Get up we don't have time to dawdle the next fight will be delivered soon." He said.

With a tired and annoyed groan Tsuna forced hisself up. Getting dressed with his orange hoodie vest with a white shirt under it, pants and tennis shoes he left his room. Walking down the stairs he could hear his mothers voice talking with someone. He rushed to the kitchen to investigate. Gokudera was in the kitchen with Tsuna's mom chatting happily about Tsuna. He was embarrassed about being the center of their conversation he sighed and enter the kitchen.

" morning." He said.

"Good morning juudaime." Gokudera said happily

"Morning Tsu-kun." His mother greeted.

"Breakfast is almost ready."

Tsuna's mom returned to work on breakfast as Tsuna sat down. Gokudera eyes watched Tsuna's every move. His expression settled sensing Tsuna's tired manner. He could tell that Tsuna was stressed about the upcoming fight. The tournament had been going on for awhile, and with so many mafia families participating it took awhile for the event to reach the familias in Japan. Up until now it was centered in Italy. Chrome unfortunately was the first to fight when the tournament hit Japan. The main point of it was whatever family or families scored the most victories in Italy would be sent to Japan to fight the Mafia residing in Japan. The rules were simple similar to Tsuna and his guardians. They were pitted against other member of the same status. A better example would be like the Varia. Each had one boss, and seven fighters. All capable of having weird abilities, but not all of them. And what made it more confusing is that the families and guardians selected were random. They could fight one family one day and an entirely different family the next time. Tsuna feared the idea of having to fight the Varia again, or worse having to fight Dino if it came down to it. When Tsuna was approached by the Cervello's to receive the information regarding the tournament, he tried his best to decline. However, it became pointless when they told the young boss that failure to participate in the event would result in disqualification, and the Vongolia family will be removed as head over the overall Mafia. Clearly Tsuna didn't want something like that to happen, because not only would they be removed but they would also be hunted. Once again the Vongolia family had no choice in the matter. Though Gokudera was more than willing to participate in order to prove to his juudaime and to others, it was harder to explaining it to the rest. After living a semi-normal lifestyle too when everything settled. Well as normal as one could have with a home tutor like Reborn. To his surprise everyone was willing to participate. It appeared that everyone was rather eager and prepared for the event. Well he couldn't say that he wasn't all that surprised by it. From fighting to normality everyone probably had a lot of pent up energy the a normal life style just couldn't quench.

"Tsuna when we get done eating here we need to leave." Reborn said

"I know that." Tsuna snapped

With breakfast on the table Tsuna and his family ate. All the while Tsuna becoming gloomy more and more as the clocked ticked. When they were done they left without a word. Walking along the streets Tsuna kept thinking on who would be most likely to fight next. If it was Hibari there wasn't any problems, the same with Gokudera, and Yamamoto. Tsuna just didn't want his rain guardian blowing off all his energy on fighting. If luck was against them it would with be either him, Ryohei, or as he thought earlier, Lambo. His lack of confidence was more in Lambo and hisself. Oh how he prayed in his head for it not to be Lambo. Not that there wasn't any penalty in losing, but he just didn't want anything to happen to him, and end up hospitalized like his battle with Levi.

"Tsuna, stop here." Reborn ordered

Tsuna did as he was told after bumping into Gokudera's back. He rubbed his nose and looked around. With his mind in other places he didn't realize that they had arrived at the meeting spot for the Cervello's to deliver the next fight. Falling out of the skies Tsuna fell back as the Cervello's appeared. He stared up at them. The Cervello on the right reached into her jacket pulling out a letter. She threw it to Reborn who caught it and opened it up. Reading over it he paused. It made Tsuna worry as he crawled over to see the letter.

"During the tournament there will be a serious of added events that will test the boss's judgement the first one is an intermission fight. You have 24 hours starting by the time we leave to find a fighter that is not affiliated with the Mafia. They are to participate in this fight. Sawada Tsunayoshi that form holds a variety of requirements. Your fighter must have 3 out 5 to participate. Refusing is not an option failure to participate will result in disqualification."

Tsuna's eye widen, he knew there was no way he could find a fighter, anybody outside his friends were all related to the Mafia. Thinking of what he should do he looked at the letter to see I the requirements listed. Not affiliated with the Mafia was at the top and was a must. He wondered why they were having an event when they just had their first battle. What was the point in that? It made no since to have one battled then an event. And why a fighting? Couldn't they do like a game of pole knocking or something.

"Your time starts now. Please have that paper and your fighter at the coordinates that will be sent within the day. The fight will start after that."

Before Tsuna could protest or ask any sort of questions the Cervello's were gone. He scratched his head furiously trying to figure out what he was going to do. He didn't have anyone that wasn't in the Mafia. He was convinced that this stupid side event was going to be what got them disqualified. Gokudera tried his best to calm his boss, attempting to reassure him that everything would work out. Eventually Tsuna did calm down, but he was still in a frenzy. With time ticking away he started to think with all his might. Trying to recall people he had met in the past. It didn't do any good, they were all Mafia and the few that weren't wouldn't stand a chance.

3 hours past and Tsuna was still desperately thinking. It made his head pound furiously. Reborn was also at a loss. His connections were nothing but mafias and the same with Gokudera. Looking over the paper once more his head throbbed. Maybe if he called Dino he would have a solution. Surely Dino knew people outside the Mafia that could fight.

"Don't think so hard Tsuna, we have plenty of time to find someone." Reborn said.

"No we don't and it's not like you know anyone. This is stupid why would they do something like this. Boss's judgement. What does that even mean? And how is that relevant to this stupid tournament?"

"It's like using your high intuition. You just gotta feel it. Now go and find us a fighter." Reborn said.

Leon who had been riding on his hat crawled into the baby's hand. Turning into a gun. Reborn shot at Tsuna with the deathperation bullet. Being sent back Tsuna had a regret wishing he had known more fighters that were not Mafia affiliated. His body glowed and the dying will flame appeared in the center of his forehead. His closed tore right off his body as he shouted.

"REEEBOOOOOOOOORN! I WILL FIND A FIGHTER WITH MY DYING WILL!"

Just like that Tsuna was off at a dead run. Gokudera and Reborn watched as he shrunk into the distance. Gokudera was worried for Tsuna hoping he would pull through. Which in all reality he knew that Tsuna would find somebody with no issue, and if they refused he would just have to threaten them.

With Tsuna speeding down the street shouting for a fighter, his feet and will took him to Kokuyo. He busted down the gate and ran down the halls. Running by Ken and Chikusa in the process. The two paused before they took off to inform Mukuro of the deranged Vongolia boss. Coming to halt outside a door that happened to open on cue. Nilal stepped out seeing the adrenaline fueled half naked Tsuna.

"Nilal, I want you to fight for the Vongolia!" he announced.

The flame on his head died down and soon Tsuna was aware of what he had done. He stared at Nilal who looked annoyed by his declaration. He back up against the wall letting her exit her room. It suddenly hit Tsuna. Nilal wasn't part of the Mafia persé. She may even be a loophole, being locked away for so long no one in this day and age would know who she was, plus Reborn said that once someone is locked away in the deepest part of Vendicare they lose all ties to the mafia. He looked terrified under her gaze, which was odd cause all she was doing was staring at him with somewhat of a blank expression she wasn't even annoyed as he assumed by his declaration. The only thing he could think of was to drop to the ground and bow.

" I'm sorry. I know you said already that you don't like to fight, but if I don't have someone to fight for the Vongolia who isn't tied to the Mafia then We'll be disqualified. He confessed

Nilal stared as Tsuna refused to raise his head. He hated that he was asking someone he barely knew to do something that didn't like doing, but his dying will brought him here. So he had to try and convince her to participate. His eyes fell to his hand, luckily he had a death grip on the form the Cervello's handed him. He held it up to her but didn't look up. Nilal grabbed the paper and quickly skimmed through it. She sighed and looked at him, about to reject him.

"Kufufu I don't know what you did but I would love for you to tell how you got the Vongolia tenth to grovel at your feet." Mukuro spoke.

Nilal and Tsuna both turned their heads seeing Mukuro along with Ken and Chikusa behind him. After hearing about the spastic boss barreling through his "base" in his boxer Mukuro couldn't help but be curious. Though now he was more curious about him at Nilal's feet. Nilal held out the paper for Mukuro to read. Taking it from her hand he grinned deviously.

"Failure to provide a fighter will result in the family's disqualification. That's pretty extreme, but I like it." He said

Tsuna jumped and snatched the paper from him with a glare. Mukuro wasn't bothered by his glare. Tsuna's glare was about as scary as a bunny. Looking back at Nilal once more. He bowed his head. He was prepared to stand there for the remaining time until the fight to try and convince her. Nilal glanced back at Mukuro. Taking the role of his "pawn" she waited for his response. Cupping is chin Mukuro thought it over. He very much enjoyed the idea of the Vongolia being no more. They were the center after all and with a new head they would have to reinstate new treaties with other families, but he seriously doubted that anyone could run the center like the Vongolia could. Which made his goal in destroying the Mafia easier with them not having any alliances. On the other hand it wouldn't be any fun having some stupid form decide the Vongolia's fate. He nodded his head.

"Alright then how about you go ahead and participate in this petty little scrimmage." He said.

"If I must." She said.

Taking the form from Tsuna he smiled with great relief. She handed the form back to Tsuna. It seemed that relying on Mukuro's acquaintances was becoming a habit. One by one Tsuna marked the list the Nilal qualified for. Tsuna had already gathered the she could fight and that she had strength, and her fight with Hibari also proved she had skill. He didn't even care what sort of turmoil Reborn would release for having her fight. He had a fighter and that was all, he didn't care.


	9. PHysical shadows

Ch.9 The physical Shadows

Outside of a deserted parking garage; Tsuna, along with Gokudera, Yamamoto, Reborn, Nilal and surprisingly Mukuro stared. Looking at the piece of paper that held the directions to where the fight would take place. One would think that the It being a tournament they would have a better place to host it. Either way the shadier the better he figured. Approaching the entrance to the garage a Cervello appeared out of no where surprising Tsuna. God how he really hated that. Why couldn't they show up like normal.

" Sawada Tsunayoshi have you brought a fighter for the Vongolia familia?" She asked

He nodded and handed her the paper. Nilal stepped forward staring the Cervello down. Though completely biased she didn't care who or what the fighter was. She stepped to the side and allowed them access. Upon entering the garage an elevator was waiting with its doors wide open. They all piled in and the elevator started to lower. Tsuna was uncomfortable, he really felt like he didn't belong but it was a common feeling. Gokudera seemed rather at home standing stern and stiff. It would've been convincing if he didn't have to stop breaking his terrifying posture to insult Yamamoto who was acting like hisself. It became even more apparent when the door opened and they were greeted with the glares of other families and their fighter. All of them adults they refused to acknowledge Tsuna as the tenth Vongolia. Tsuna felt a heavy pressure and lowered his head. He already knew that some of not all wouldn't take him seriously, but he was hoping that they would atleast ignore him and not acknowledge him like others stares of the other families finally started to turn elsewhere. With a heavy sigh Tsuna and the others made it through the crowd of bosses. He was impressed that Gokudera didn't make any sort of comment, but maybe that was because of the reason of the others stare. Him arguing with Yamamoto and what not. Trying to avoid bumping into the more nastier looking ones he didn't see the one infront of him. Falling backwards only to have Gokudera catch him. Tsuna was prepared to apologize and possibly die.

"Hm? Yo Tsuna~."

Tsuna felt relieved hearing and seeing Dino. He was extremely grateful that it was him he had bumped into and not somebody else. Dino looked at him and then to Nilal. Again the two stared at each other having their telepathic conversation, with no one else having a clue. Dino soon broke his contact and looked at Tsuna with uncertainty. It was clear that he asked her to fight. With what he read, thought most not all that bad, Dino was still ever so cautious around her. Staring back at Nilal once more she smiled lightly at him. Though it appeared to be innocent Dino sensed an odd queasy feeling behind it. Regardless he forced himself to smile back at her worry free.

"Ah in any case are you doing this too Dino?" Tsuna asked.

"Hm? Actually I got an immunity from the last brawl they had in Italy before migrating here so I decided to us it. I just came here to support you. Though I wish you would've said something about needing a fighter." He said.

Tsuna's eyes sparkled in admiration for his "older brother's" coming for support. It made him feel better about the fight knowing that Dino believed in him. He didn't think though that perhaps he was also here to watch Nilal, hence the comment he made just now, but when it came down to it and the time Nilal really was the only option. Despite all the commotion of the crowd a specific loud voice stood out. With a loud "Voi" Tsuna looked around. Everytime something good happened, something bad followed. Spotting the long silver hair in the crowd; Squalo of the Varia group was there and beside him surprisingly without his throne attached to him was he wasn't much older than Tsuna the other people refused to look at him. In fact most of them created a gap around

him to avoid touching him. What luck, it appeared that they hadn't notice Tsuna and the others

there. He backed up quietly and gestured the group to turn around to avoid being spotted. None

of them made a single attempt to budge.

"Oh?Yo Squalo!" Yamamoto called out.

Tsuna turned white as a ghost hearing Yamamoto call out so casually. Not only did it get the attention of Squalo and Xanxus but once again the other people in the room. Tsuna covered his head wishing he could disappear. It seemed rather twisted that Mukuro found Tsuna's misfortune amusing though the states were getting rather tiresome. Squalo called out back to the baseball fanatic.

"Voi! You trash how dare you show up. This is no place for trash like you." He commented.

"We didn't have much of a choice. " Tsuna responded

"Hah, trash should be blowing and tumbling in the wind. Don't embarrass the Vongolia." Xanxus spoke.

Gokudera growled and reached for one of his dynamites. Squalo's reflexes kicked in drawing his sword. Which triggered Yamamoto who had only brought the baseball bat Reborn gave him that turned into a sword after a certain amount of speed. Tsuna quickly tried to settle the three down. He feared that their fight might get them disqualified as well. It was just for show, after a moment of staring at each other with spectators peeking hoping for a fight. They finally withdrew their weapons. Nilal rolled her eyes and shook her head. If they were going to just pose with their weapons I hand, then atleast make some sort of gesture to attack or something.

"Voi! No matter we will win this tournament and then take the Vongolia down." Squalo said.

Squalo and Xanxus turned and left into the crowd. Tsuna was already exhausted and from that small encounter. It made it even worse knowing that they were participating He feared that perhaps Nilal might not have enough strength for an opponent selected by the Varia.

"Just to be clear I don't plan on dragging this fight out. So if they were hoping for a show they're going to be disappointed." Nilal said.

Tsuna looked at her as the ground started to rumble. People started to move back as an opening appeared in the floor allowing a large arena to come through. Dropping from wires was a flat screen that had view of the arena in full. There was a brief amount of static before a Cervello appeared.

"Greeting and welcome to the intermission brawl. If you are here that means you have provided a fighter for your family. At this moment we would like all the fighters to head inside the ring."

Nilal went through the crowd and onto the arena. It was obvious that she didn't belong. She was the only female compared to the big gruff looking guys around her. No doubt people started openly talk and comment about the petite female in the arena. And to make things worse it seemed that they knew who she was fighting for as eyes would occasionally glance towards Tsuna and his group. Even so with a heavy swallow Tsuna was just going to have to trust Nilal. Standing on the platform of the arena Nilal started to look around curiously. She looked lost almost. Tsuna and the others could hear Squalo's laugh.

"Voi! What's with that girls hah! She looks lost."

"The rules are simple however this is a free for all brawl. All fighter must fight in the ring until there is only one person standing. Falling out takes you out of the match as well as immobilizing your opponent or knocking them out. However despite losing your fighter you will not be disqualified. And the victor shall receive an immunity to skip a later fight or event and move to the next round no questions asked."

The spectators conversed on what the reward was, it seemed good in a tournament like this, even Tsuna thought it would be good. If they win they could skip a fight and let everyone rest or save it for Lambo's fight so he wouldn't get hurt. The only thing he didn't like was that they all had to fight each other on the platform. No doubt they would attack Nilal first being a girl. After the Cervello's announcement the screen static once more as a count down started. Tsuna's heart was racing like crazy. He started to second guess himself if it was alright picking someone like Nilal to fight against so many guys. The buzzered sounded off. Just as he predicted the fight commenced and all the guys turned towards Nilal. Tsuna's heart dropped fearing she was going to be killed with so many opponents on her. Nilal remained perfectly calm as the first few fighter made their move. Tsuna closed his eyes tightly not wanting to watch. Seconds past and Tsuna had heard nothing that sounded remotely like a scrimmage. It was more of a confused

"Oya? You seem so skittish Vongolia tenth." Mukuro said.

Peeking through his tightly sealed eyes he looked to the stage. He could only gasp as he saw the first group being held by what looked like black figures of people. The group stepped back, but one still charged. Nilal turned and with a quick gesture of her hand the attacker's shadow lifted from the ground. Grabbing ahold of the male holding him in place. Tsuna was astounded and so was Dino the shadows had become physical, holding onto the people tightly. It even became more ridiculous when the shadows moved with their captives. Going over the edge of the ring in nothing flat the fight had lost 6 fighters.

"Oh that's pretty awesome." Yamamoto commented.

"No kidding." Gokudera confirmed.

Once the shadows disposed of the fighters they went back inTo the ground. She turned looking towards the other group. They weren't expecting her to be capable of having any sort of special skills. That was clearly a huge mistake. Dino was paying close attention to her, even though he had found those entries on her he had not found any that mentions her skills. He hoped that he would find something next time. He planned on asking Tsuna if he could talk to both him and Nilal after the fight, hopefully to shed some light on the current situation taking place with her. The fighters starred trying to calculate their next move, but even a newbie boss or fighter could tell that her defense was towering, and with that creepy shadow trick it made her harder to approach blindly. Without any sort of warning a dagger went flying towards her. Tsuna gasped as the dagger was sent at a crazy speed. Just as quick as the dagger was thrown it was deflected by her fan. Tsuna looked at the fan carefully. That's right that's the fan she used to deflect Reborn's bullet. He thought.

"Voi! You trash where did you find someone like that?" Squalo shouted

He stomped towards them ready to fight for some answers. Gokudera blocked Tsuna from the loud Varia. Amazingly though he wasn't wanting to fight. The fighter they had selected was still in the ring with the other groups. It was aggravating Xanxus that the fight was so boring without a single movement. If they were that scared of a female then there was something wrong with everyone in the tournaments selection. There was a loud roar from the ring as a male charged toward Nilal. He was quick and fast. He figure he could reach her before she could bring up any of those shadows she summoned. Close enough to strike he threw a punch. Nilal dodged while allowing him to hover over she released a punch. Though she didn't have gloves on the punch was swift and powerful against the attacker. The back of his shirt shredded and dispersed from the impact, but his front material remained intact. He looked down at her as she jumped back. The fighter started to bleed from his mouth and then slammed to the ground inducing a seizure. Nilal ran her fingers through her hair and then looked at the remaining fighter. There wasn't many left.

"I don't have time to dawdle, so if it's alright with you I would like to get this over with." She said arrogantly.

It must've struck the remaining fighters pride as they sprung all at once. They grouped together and huddled around her. Tsuna was worried for her, trapped in the center of crazed Mafia fighters. He wasn't sure if she could fight them off all at once in close range.

"She's done for." Gokudera said.

"Not good." Yamamoto added.

After staring at the huddle Tsuna realized some odd thing about the huddle. They weren't moving. That's right. He recalled. She had froze Hibari in place using his shadow and with so many around her there was nothing but shadows. Soon the huddle started to moved one by one the fighters fell in various directions. Knocked out. When the last one fell Nilal rezzed out from a shadow of a fallen fighter. There was an odd silence over the crowd. The onlookers were certainly not happy. And one would suspect that once the others realized who she was with there would be hell. The screen that viewed the fight closed in on Nilal the word winner appeared along with her name.

"Congratulations to Nilal for the Vongolia. They have been awarded the immunity." Spoke a Cervello's voice.

Tsuna and the others cheered as Nilal hopped off the arena. The crowd of bosses spread out almost in terror, which wasn't all accurate majority of them were also enraged but they weren't going to dirty their hands, or atleast that's what some told themselves to make them feel better. Xanxus and Squalo were also less amused as they cursed under their breath and left without a word. Tsuna and the others slipped through the crowd meeting her half way. Tsuna was extremely happy that she had won. He was glad he had asked her. And even more glad she accepted, even though Mukuro told her to. The area started to clear as everyone started to depart. Dino walked against the crowd to get to Tsuna. He smiled happily for his little brothers second victory. It was certainly a good start. He looked back at Nilal before becoming more serious looking.

"My my that was certainly a short lived fight." Mukuro said.

He glanced over at the Cavallone who was actually about to say something but was cut off by the mist guardian. Nilal didn't indulge Mukuro in his comment and started to walk out without him. Tsuna watched briefly before running up to catch her.

"Wait, Nilal." He called out

" I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry I asked you to do something you don't like doing. But thanks to you we got an immunity with only our second fight. Thank you." Tsuna said politely.

Nilal looked towards Tsuna and turned around. His friends walked up behind him, Dino included. Mukuro continued on and shortly left on his own without her. Nilal didn't say anything, but she did bow her head to Tsuna before taking her leave. Dino shortly came up placing his hand on Tsuna's shoulder.

"Tsuna, I think you should be more careful around her. She feels dangerous than what she's leading on." He said his voice filled with worry.


	10. Transfer

After the intermission brawl Tsuna lost contact with Nilal and Mukuro. In order to thank Nilal for her help Tsuna had his mom make up some goodies to take to her, but when he went to Kokuyo to deliver them. She was nowhere to be found. Her and Mukuro both. Tsuna feared they might've gone off to start killing off smaller barely noticeable family. With Nilal at his side Mukuro could definitely take out the Mafia. And After she left and Dino's warning, Tsuna couldn't sleep at all that night. Regardless Tsuna didn't want to think she was anything like Mukuro. With both MIA for almost 2 weeks it wasn't just Tsuna that started to get worried. Reborn and the others were uneasy and very alert. Waiting for the two to show up. While sitting in his classroom waiting for the bell their teacher went ahead and entered the classroom. The teacher who was normally composed seem rather pale and also uneasy. Almost as if he saw something he shouldn't have. Tsuna and his classmates looked toward the teacher as he briefly cleared his throat.

"S-starting today we will be a new students joining us. I hope that everyone gets along well with her." He announced.

He turned around and started to write the names on the board. The students started to gossip and chatter. Tsuna was sitting at his desk when he felt a cold chill. It seemed to be coming from the door of the classroom. With Tsuna on the alert Gokudera prepared himself as well. The feeling he was getting wasn't anything like Hibari's, and if so he would've walked in by now. Then again Hibari was already...er...well suppose to be a third year junior, but insisted on minding the first years. For a guy who hated crowds and weakling he sure had a specific crowd of his own he insisted on being in on.

"Alright you can come in now." The teacher said.

All the students look towards the door as it opened. There was not enough words, or sounds Tsuna and the other could've of made to express the odd twisted feelings they received in the pit of their stomachs. Nilal walked into the classroom, thee students who had no affiliations of who she oohed and awed. She definitely stood out as the "exotic" type of transfer student. Tsuna saw that Gokudera was about to snap. The young Vongolia grabbed ahold of his storm guardian. His hands trembling in fear, but he didn't want him to make any sort of scene. He would hope that during their break they could talk to her on what she was trying to accomplish.

"Class won't start for another 10 minutes but please go ahead and introduce yourselve." The teacher said.

"I'm Nilal Mukuro, haha nice to meet everyone."

THEY LEFT AND GOT MARRIED! Tsuna's mind screamed. He almost fell out of his chair but then thought of the probability of hercoming in as a sibling. Not that anyone could be fooled by it. Well maybe half siblings. Whatever whacked out Mukuro had, Tsuna would have to find out before things got bad. The teacher soon left as Nilal looked to Tsuna and waved. Wanting to know who had the new students attention they turned looking at Tsuna. When they realized it was no good Tsuna their stares became glares. As they started making snide remarks on him. Nilal chuckled and walked up to Tsuna. He scooted back in his seat on instinct. Yamamoto and Gokudera stood up waiting for a chance to toss her and out. Some students stared in curiosity and some glared, since middle school when it all started it seemed that Tsuna and his group of friends had become common trouble makers. Not intentionally Tsuna's fault. He wanted a normal school life without the Mafia being brought up, but regardless the young tenth took his position in stride, but still didn't like the common if not routinely chaos that followed. Nilal stopped in front of his desk. She looked down as he looked up. Without really considering the situation he spoke.

"Th-thanks again. By the way." He uttered.

"Hm? You're still on that? It wasn't really much, but since then I've had some issues." She commented.

"I'm sorry." He said

Jumping up from his seat Tsuna bowed his head to her. Gokudera didn't like that obviously as his brow twitched. The students even started to talk more. The new transfer student was already acquainted with a troublesome group. Nilal reached out and ruffled the young boss's hair.

"No worries. Both Mukuro and I figured something like that would happen, and it keeps him entertained." She assured him.

"I-but still you didn't want-" he replied shortly getting cut off.

"It can't be helped I'm involved now so please feel free to call on me if you need my help."

Nilal walked past Tsuna, finding an empty desk. Tsuna watched and turned his head as she went pasted. It wasn't until she sat down that he felt the murderous intent of half of the students in his classroom. It was more toward the principals that he already knew Nilal. With all the commotion the people ended up attracting the worst kind of attention. The door opened as Hibari stood in the door frame. The students quickly quieted down.

"What is with all the commotion? You herbivores are disrupting the peace so early." He said.

"Hibari-San?" Tsuna spoke.

It wasn't but a second before Hibari's eyes locked on Nilal in the back of the class. With his tonfas at hand and no regards to the school property he viscously assaulted her shattering the desk. She dodge of course with no problem. He held his tonfas up for another attack, whatever obstruction was in his way would just have to be shattered.

"Don't go attacking people first thing in the morning Hibari." Nilal said suddenly

Hibari glared at her with his calm demeanor showing signs of pure hell about to break loose. Had she not had left on such terms when they first met it would've been different. She ran, by controlling his shadow. It was the restraint that made her a target that he had to bite to death.

"I have other things to do, I'm already behind because of the disruption you're causing." He said

"but if you do that then you won't be able to fight the others." She said.

"Others?" Tsuna said quietly.

Hibari lowered his tonfas. The students were too frighten to even make a comment of the new student stopping Hibari in mid attack.

"Step outside with me." She said

She left the classroom and Hibari followed Tsuna remained at a safe distance. It was as he thought after the fight they were probably hunted by the losing teams to have them wiped out. Nilal probably wouldn't kill them but Mukuro definitely wouldn't hesitate if attacked. Tsuna and the others followed Nilal who led Hibari to the roof top. Though Tsuna stayed faaaar away from Hibari as possible. Once everyone had gathered Hibari glared back at Tsuna and the others. The crowd had followed him. Purposely trying to annoy him would result in horrible destruction.

"You're being hunted right?" Tsuna said abruptly

"I'm glad you already know." She said.

"After that fight it seemed that some bosses didn't like losing to a girl. We've been dealing with everything from assassins to mercenaries, in such a short time. It's rather pitiful on how desperate they are."

"That's all well and fine but what's up with you showing up playing as a transfer student." Gokudera said with hostility.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly?" Tsuna asked

"To lighten the load." She said bluntly

There was no sugar coating or hidden words to Nilal's answer. There it was. She came to Namimori Junior, disguised as student. To have the mafias target not just them but everyone in the Vongolia family. Tsuna was upset that she did something like that but he knew he had no right. Again he told himself that she said she didn't want to fight, and even waited for Mukuro's approval, and since most mafias there were low class and sore losers aside from Cavallone and Varia the rest would resort to something like this. Hibari still wasn't amused by what Nilal was saying. Infact he was about to prepare hisself for another assault. Nilal looked at Hibari and smiled.

" that being said we've been going on two weeks of a nonstop attack. The idea is that seeing me here here they will attack someone who we know and who they think they can get the drop on." She still kept her gaze on Hibari.

"You frequent the rooftops for naps right? They'll no doubt try to attack as you sleep."

"Are they stong?" Hibari asked.

"Nope." Nilal said quickly

Hibari scowled while Tsuna stuttered by her direct answer. Atleast try to lie to him if you're trying to get him to stop from attacking you. He thought. If they were weak it wasn't worth Hibari's time. On the other hand they would be targeting his school, and he couldn't allow that either. Now that Nilal took up being a student here regardless if they leave or drop out. If they were here just here for show, the enemy would still attack the school. How irritating he thought.

"Answer me this. You did this on purpose right?" He asked.

" I thought it was clear. Otherwise I wouldn't be here." She said.

" So I'm here to ensure they keep coming here. Oh, and don't worry. I don't think they're stupid enough to attack in broad daylight...maybe..." She said

"You! What do you mean by that!?" Gokudera shouted.

"Hm? Think about it aside from the Vongolia and Cavallone. Have you ever heard of any other group that played fair with out casualties? Even the Varia attacks in broad daylight without hesitations." Nilal said.

A hush fell on the rooftop. Tsuna knew she was right. His school life and classmates may as well be in danger because of her, but why? Why would she purposely transfer in to a school just to have the enemies follow them. And if she knew of the consequences for their actions why go through with it. Tsuna accepted the fact that there was still a reason to be cautious of her, but he really didn't want to be.

"Regardless of your objections or comments. I'll be attending Namimori Junior as of today. So please take good care of me."

With that Nilal bowed her head respectfully and turned returning to her class. Hibari gripped his tonfas in annoyance. He didn't care about the fact that she was now a student or that fact that the rest were being hunted because of some stupid fight. No his annoyance simply came from two things. One the peace of was going to be disrupted, and two they purposely chose HIS school as the location for unwanted crowding.


	11. Unwanted attention

With only a short amount of time Nilal had became one of the idols of Nami Junior. Obviously Kyoko was still one of the top idols, but with conflicting class schedules Tsuna could rarely see his beloved Kyoko-chan. It was rather scary though, during breaks and what not Nilal would sit with him and the others. The glares didn't bother the rain or storm guardian, but it did bother Tsuna. Such tension and weight stressed him out. It would only be a matter of time before someone formed a group to beat him up. He was waiting for it. More so than the surprise attacks from the disgruntled Mafia groups. Surprisingly however there hadn't been any such attacks. It had only be a week since Nilal transferred in, and Tsuna half expected the attacks to be instantaneous, but nothing odd or out of place had taken place. Guess it would make since for them to use the element of surprise, but it made more since to knock the competition out while one could.

"I wonder if she was just saying all that stuff." He thought

Having said all that with Nilal sitting with him and the others when gym rolled around Tsuna finally felt a sense of relief. It was the only time that him and Nilal had separate classes. Nilal had math during Tsuna's p.e., but where her class was she could still see out towards the field, but just for today Nilal was elsewhere. Cutting her math class to roam the halls of the school. She sighed with boredom as she walked. Though she had never once been in a school, Nilal showed that she was plenty smart, and capable. Figures with teachers like Giotto and the others, Nilal never had to attend school regularly. She stopped just shy of missing a member of the disciplinary committee during her walk. If memory served her correctly the students called him Kusakabe, or something like that. He turned seeing the small female. With a frown and furrow brow. He stared.

"What are you doing skipping class?" He asked with a deep tone.

Nilal stepped back from the male. Not from fear, she just didn't want to have a kink in her neck from staring up at him for their conversation. The way he stared at her as if she was nuisance even with it being their first encounter, his stature didn't really exert much response from her. Hibari must've told him about her. It wouldn't surprise her in the lease. She was honored though if that was the case. Telling his lil' ol' minions. With her lack of reply Kusakabe's frown stretch more.

"I've been told not to ask twice if it's you I'm dealing with."

"Really? Well I guess in that sort of circumstances I should answer right? Though if I don't I'm guessing you are ordered to attack me right? Your adorable chairman couldn't defeat me so what makes you think you can."

With a piercing stare with purple eyes filled with arrogant cold pride, dashed with a smirk, the vice chairman stepped back. He felt odd from just her stare. Like a sick twisted feeling. He had only felt it once way back when he first opposed Hibari. A stare that squeezed the lungs and clawed at the throat. She's dangerous. He thought. The uneasiness dispersed when Nilal broke down in a soft smile and chuckle. Thrown for more than just an aloof he stared.

"I'm only playing don't look so panicked." She said with casual tone.

"Actually to be honest I'm just bored and rather restless. I'm normally out doing something and staying busy, but here I just can't sit still, so I wanted to walk around the school."

With such an open confession Kusakabe didn't know if he should punish her for skipping or let her go for her honesty. Most students would make excuses and lies only to be caught and beaten to a pulp, but what was the protocol for an honest answer? A warning maybe? Would it look bad on the chairman if he assaulted a new student, and a female at that? What were the boundaries for this sort of situation? Without an sort of warning in a brutal way his questions were all answered. Kusakabe was sent to the wall. Assaulted by no other than Hibari. The impact crushed in the drywall of the wall and rattled the window, had he hit any harder the window would've shattered.

"Well now." She said idly.

"If he's not doing his job I have no use for him." Hibari said.

"I suppose."

"If you're skipping class, prepare to be bitten to death."

Hibari charged at Nilal swinging at her with his tonfas. Nilal jumped back as he proceeded to chase her down the hall as the two fought, but it was entirely one sided once again. Teachers and students alike heard the calamity but chose not to take action. They could tell who it was doing the attacking. They all felt sorry for whoever his target was. Nilal had lured Hibari to the rooftop before she turned around to finally confront him. He was closer on her than she thought but still evaded his attack that could've shattered her skull. Nilal jumped further back to gain some distance. Recovering from his failed assault Hibari prepared himself to go again. With a tired sighed Nilal held her hand out. The material from her sleeve started to crunch and wrinkle. The sound of chains jingled and rubbed against one another. A chain was wrapped around her arm, with a loud thud a weight dropped to the ground. The weapon she used to protect Tsuna and the others during Mukuro's first fight out of Vendicare. She held up her other hand and the chain extended like magic. Link by link of chains led to her slightly open hand, pantomiming that she was holding something a long stake appeared in her hand. Meant for defense and offense. Hibari smirked that she was willing to fight him. Unlike last time when she simply deflected and dodged his attacks. Nilal started to swing the end of her weapon in circles next to her building momentum. Nilal's vision passed through Hibari sensing something else. It grabbed Hibari's attention as well as his eyes shifted. With out any sort of warning Nilal let loose her weapon. The end which held the weight was coming in fast. The timing of the two had to have been by mistake. Hibari whipped around his tonfa swing upward hitting an assassin. The sheer force from his tonfa shattered the assassins jaw, but it didn't end there. The weight slammed into the persons throat as Hibari swayed in ordered to dodge. No doubt that the impact shattered the bones in his neck. The random attacker was sent flying back as he hit the ground. With a quick jerk the end of Nilal's weapon returned to her, just like a yo-yo would. She moved only slightly as the end hit another person looming behind her. Not paying attention when the second body was sent back Hibari came down slamming the culprit down into the concrete. Standing right behind her Nilal smiled.

"Woo, I was getting worried that after I told you guys everything they wouldn't show up, making things awkward but here are some." She said.

"This was a pathetic ambush. Hibari said.

"I did say they weren't strong." She repeated.

Hibari put his tonfas away and picked up the rag doll bodies. Dragging them over to the fence. If there was a window he would throw them out, but tossing them over the rooftop was an option too, but he didn't want the schoolyard to be stained in blood. He would have the bodies disposed of regardless if they were alive or not.

" say Hibari, how about we work something out?" Nilal asked curiously

Hibari looked back at her before he turned around. What could she possibly want to work out. There was nothing at all she had to offer. What he wanted though was to start up the fight they were about to have before being interrupted.

"Here me out, alright. Let me do as I please while I'm here, still using this place as bait for the assassins or whatever they want to call themselves, obviously they're not exactly skilled in anything other than failed attempts, and in exchange I'll fight you,..let's say twice a week whenever you want." She said

" I'd rather have it be whenever I want."

"Fine then whenever you feel like it."

Hibari's expression actually soften but was then covered by a smirk. It certainly was an interesting offer worth taking. He didn't like her in his school anyway. So to let her do whatever she wanted was definitely beneficial...to him. He stilled didn't want his school to be a target point, but there was a card on the table he couldn't refuse. A chance to fight Nilal whenever he wanted, meaning he could randomly attack her on the streets, no questions.

"Interesting, you won't run away?" He asked

"I'll beat you to the point of dying if you want."

Hibari let out a small chuckled. He found it humorous on how she replied to his question. Very humorous indeed. He walked by her without a word or any signs of accepting her offer. He left Nilal on the roof to herself. Returning to the reception room after informing Kusakabe of the two unwanted guest on the roof. He sat down on the couch. He decided to give the girl the benefit of the doubt and see how true she planned to be in the agreement.


	12. Second battle is a downpour

The following days brought nothing but dark skies and heavy rains. The grounds and streets dampen and slick with rain. Nilal was in her room staring out her window. She couldn't see anything else other than forest and run down buildings peaking through the trees past the rain bands on her window. Rainy and stormy weather like these were Nilal's favorite weather. The shaded cool winds with the smell of fresh rain. It was mostly the shading it casted. Not in a dark gloomy aspect. She also enjoyed listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the roof tops. And with the right roof the raindrops sounded different each time. Like now the heavy rain sounded like marbles rolling as it hit the gutters. She closed her as eyes briefly hearing a small roars of thunder. She opened her eyes just in time to see a large amount of water fall from ontop of the trees, almost like a geyser. Nilal lifted her head and watched to see if it would happen again. After a moments time it happened again. Water shot up in one go as a geyser would. Curious, Nilal left to investigate. With no umbrella or anything to cover her from the rain she ventured into the forest. Now outside she could hear repetitive splashing like someone playing in a stream. Deeper into the woods she wondered. The splashing was becoming louder. The rain became heavier from excess water from the unknown source. Coming upon an old abandon building with streams of captured rain water flowing over the debris. At the base of the fallen building, with a sword in hand Tsuna's rain guardian Yamamoto was training. She recalled seeing him with Tsuna and the others at the brawl, but they didn't exactly talk to one another.

"You're Tsuna's rain guardian right?" She said

Yamamoto jumped and then turned around. Resting the back of the blade on his shoulder while smiling at the female. He had been soaked to the bone, showing just how long he had been out training.

"Haha you scared me. I didn't think anyone could see me this far out." He said

"Surprise, my room overlooks this area fairly well." Nilal replied.

"Oh? That's pretty cool. Ah and to answer your question yeah I'm Yamamoto Takeshi. Nice to meet you."

"Nilal. So what are you doing out here in the rain?" She asked

"Ah well you see on my way home the other day I was visited by one of those weird pink haired girls they said that it was my turn to fight n the game. Tsuna is such a worry wart that he wants me to focus on my baseball, but I can't sit by and let them all do the fighting, plus it's important from what I've been told.

"Does Tsuna know that you're fighting?

Yamamoto smiled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. He hadn't told Tsuna and against his better judgement he asked that the Cervellos not tell him either. The Cervello didn't care either way as long as he accepted the the fight. Yamamoto did feel bad for keeping it from Tsuna, but he didn't want him to worry. Since hearing about the fight he had been training without Tsuna's knowledge, waiting for his turn to fight. So when the Cervello approached him, he was more than happy to accept.

"I just didn't want him to worry. I feel really bad for not wanting him to know, but...you know." He said

"So what happens if he finds out?" She asked.

"I'll have to deal with it then. I guess."

The rain started to pick up, more fast and frequent with larger drops the two were already pretty drenched from standing there with idle talking so the downpour wasn't an issue. Nilal headed towards one of the run down buildings. Sitting on top of the fallen rubble she stared. Yamamoto was curious and nervous at the same time about having a spectator. Aside from Reborn and his father no one else had ever watched him train. With a deep calming breath he started to practice his soen ryu. Yamamoto started his training running down the rubble obstacle dragging his sword along the ground. Water started to envelope around his blade. The rain water on the ground traveled up his sword slowly breaking away from the blade into swirling rings of water. Yamamoto had continued his training even after middle school. He trained day in and day out, perfecting his new technique to continue the soen ryu. With a quick strong swift motion Yamamoto brought his sword up, the blades detached from his sword flying towards a large piece of concrete. Nilal watched carefully as the rings passed through, slicing the slab of debris into pieces. Yamamoto smiled excitedly. That was the first time he was ablle to pull off the new technique since he started working on it. From there Nilal smiled and stood up.

"So do you have an idea on a defense technique? The alone looked pretty brutal."

"Actually I haven't though about it. I was thinking about using the blades as defense, but they swing off when I bring the sword up." He explained.

"That only makes since. So how about we try it?

"Can we do that? He asks curiously.

"I'm sure, it's probably very simple to. If they are able to slice through rock than they would be the best bet in holding back an enem

With a determine look in his eyes Yamamoto agreed. As an added benefit with such a technique being used while defending would only make it stronger. Nilal jumped down from the rubble. Lifting her skirt to her pouch she pulled out her gloves. Not only that but just like the time she finally confronted Hibari. Her surujin appeared around her arm. Yamamoto was more than ready to work on his technique. He even felt more confident that Nilal was willing to help him practice on a more active target. With a loud crash of thunder the two charged at each other. Yamamoto didn't have time to lower his sword or draw momentum in the water as he suddenly had to defend himself from the blade in of Nilal's surujin. His sword rang from the impact. She had more strength than he thought. Watching her at the intermission fight he knew right off that she was powerful, but Yamamoto categorized strength and power separately. Without realizing it until just then he could feel his body being pushed back in the mud. Nilal was really strong.

"Come on Yamamoto, fighters in this tournament won't give you time to be impressed by what they can do. You need to try and draw up those water bands without having to drag it in the water."

Yamamoto nodded and tried his best to focus, it was hard because most of his techniques required him to have mobility, but with Nilal right on him it was a different story. He clenched his teeth as he was pushed back more. The back of his blade was centimeters away from touching his nose. How could she be so strong? Nilal twisted around Yamamoto as he went falling forward. While of balance Nilal reached out pushing him to the ground, lime a bully. Thankfully Yamamoto did not land on his sword when he fell. His entire front was covered in mud along with his face. Nilal stayed put letting him recover. The distance given to him wasn't much for him to work with and wasn't sure if he could pull off the move. Nilal finally moved from her spot running towards Yamamoto. He had no choice but to block her attack once more with his sword.

"What I'm doing is generous compared to whoever they assign to you as your opponent, but even using my most basic skills I'm overpowering you. You need to learn how to time your opponent. The second you see their knees bend or when you see their feet turn they plan to strike. You need to be able read them."

Nilal twisted her weapon around Yamamoto's sword sending it up towards the sky. With his torso open Nilal reached out pushing him once more. He fell back off balance landing on his rear. Again she walked back away from him to let him stand back on his feet. When he was finally stood back up he stuck his sword into the ground and waited briefly. A loud clash of thunder truck and a blinding light flashes.

"Can I ask you something?".

"Go ahead."

"You keep saying that you don't like to fight, but you seem pretty ok with pushing me around in a means to train me, and even with Hibari and that intermission brawl."

" I said I didn't like to fight unless I have to. If you recall I didn't fight Hibari I was dodging the entire time. During that stupid side event not once did I lay a hand on the those fighters except for one. I took the rest down without touching them. This is me training someone and I'm not punching or kicking as much as I am pushing you like some sort of bully.

Yamamoto laughed at Nilal's answers. They weren't wrong but fighting is fighting, regardless if it was training or not. Letting out a chuckled Yamamoto was ready for another go. Nilal had to give Yamamoto credit for his determination. Thinking that even if he was beaten to a pulp to he would still fight until he was killed. Nilal continued Yamamoto's training until the skies became more dark. Signifying that it was night time. From his head to toe Yamamoto was battered in mud by Nilal's assault. With the storm and rain still going strong and the night getting colder the two decided to call it a day. Heading in separate directions Nilal returned back home. Arriving in only a matter of minutes Nilal was walking down the hall way. Her clothes were weighed from all the rain water leaving drops and a trail as she went to her room. She opened the door and inside Mukuro waited looking out the window. She closed the door and walked to her bed. Mukuro turned his head slightly catching her in a quick glance. Nilal started to remove her shoes and then her uniform top. She waited patiently for him to speak as she undressed.

"Did you enjoy your outing?" He asked.

"Why? Were you needing me for something?"

Mukuro turned looking at her. Her clothes hit the ground with a wet splat sound. Standing in her tank top and skirt she stared back at him. Just by the way he was standing Nilal could tell he wasn't in too good a mood. Mukuro moved away from the window and sat at the foot of her bed. He purposely bounced lightly feeling the bed. Nilal walked away from him, removing her tank top. Mukuro looked but didn't seem flustered nor suggestive towards Nilal lack of decency. She didn't care anyways it was her room.

"I did have something in mind, but you weren't here. I wasn't expecting you to be gone the whole day with the rain guardian." He commented.

"He is going to be the next to fight, he was out training, so I went to helped, that's all."

"I don't care if you spend your free time on pointless activities, but I wish you wouldn't give them more allies." He said

" I thought you wanted me to earn their trust?"

"Only Sawada, and only him. If you win him, then it doesn't matter about the rest, they will go with whatever he says."

"You make it seem like it's that easy, but Tsuna will definitely have his suspicions if his friends do, his hyper intuition and what not."

Mukuro and Nilal took a brief second to stare at each other. A new Kokuyo uniform appeared on her, after abit Mukuro grew a devious smirk. The kind that made Nilal curious on what was going through the illusionist's mind. Mukuro made his way to the door and opened it. Without any sort of questioning, Nilal followed him to the door. She looked up at him as he still smiled.

"How about we go out for a bit the rain is starting to ease up?"...


	13. Take over

Ch.13 take over

Nilal and Mukuro left Kokuyo out on a walk. As he stated the rain had eased up and the. End completely. The two were dry by the time they hit the shopping district of Namimori. Mukuro didn't inform Nilal of what they were doing all he said after leaving was that they had some business to handle promising that it wasn't anything particularly bad. Into the street life of Namimori the two walked through the crowd, though no one else acknowledged the two. Using simple illusions the two made themselves invisible. After all with their appearance there would be unwanted eyes watching them. Be it Tsuna and his group, Hibari, or Mafia intel that were looking for easy targets to lighten the competition. Rest assured that Mukuro and Nilal were definitely not easy targets.

"You're really not going to tell me anything, but amazingly enough you are taking part in whatever it is we're doing?" She asked.

"Kufufufu, only because I feel like stretching my legs. It seems that I've gotten too comfortable in dealing with combat, that I can't watch from the shadow like I use to."

Nilal stared at the back of his head before walking beside him. His eyes glanced towards her, she was expecting something more, but knew already that he was still going to refuse telling her anything. Following him down a dark alley the illusion on the two. lifted. Now visible they strolled the dark grimy aisle. Half way down Nilal saw a flashing dirt covered neon lights. A bar? He brought her to a dark alleyway to a bar. She wasn't going to make any sort of dumb snide remarks, but she was curious. Mukuro stopped infront of a large metal door. It looked almost like it was welded to the wall, but it wasn't, but there was no knob or anything. So how would someone get inside a bar that had no knob?

" I thought you would be happy to hear that behind this door is the group that's been bothering us for the past few weeks. I had Ken and Chikusa do some investigating."

"I'm not particularly happy as much as I am annoyed by dealing with them. But I will enjoy taking them out I suppose." She said.

"Kufufu, glad to hear."

Mukuro slipped the tip of his trident into a small crack along the door, it didn't look like any sort of issue for Mukuro as he pried the door open. Well one wouldn't say pry. The door opened as simply as taking a top off a can of snacks. Reaching out to open the door the two peeked in. Inside was a well dim lit bar with leather booths, dark wood furniture and tables, glass bar with top shelf booze, pool table and more. Pretty high class for a typical bar in the alleyway; clearly Mafia funded. They walked in and looked around. The door closed behind the two as they proceeded further in. Nilal walk on ahead sitting at the bar on one of the stools. Swiveling idly as she watched him. Looking around more there was no other doors or ways in or out. The door they came in was the only entrance, but one thing did catch her eye. A small blinking red light. It was a camera recording their intrusion. Mukuro joined Nilal at the bar waiting patiently beside her. Nilal stood on the support bar of the stool, leaning over the counter she started to rummage through what she could reach. Pulling out two glasses she sat them down. She figured they may as well whip up a few drinks while waiting.

"Is this a meeting place? I was expecting things to be abit more interesting. She said.

"Ken and Chikusa said that they frequent here, boss and all after a night of destruction. I thought it might be fun to meet them for once so they wouldn't have to keep looking for us." He said.

"How kind." She said sarcastically.

Mukuro grinned while Nilal moved her spot to behind the bar. She started to rummage more before becoming across some non-alcoholic drink mixes and some sodas. Just for giggles her attired turned into a vest and dress shirt with a black skirt and heels resembling a female bartender. Cover was key after all. Mukuro smirked as she started mixing drinks for them. When she was done she poured him a glass along with appropriate dressings.

"Here we go. One non-alcoholic Cloud 9 for you and a shady lady for me." She say with a chuckle.

Mukuro grabbed his glass taking a small sip from the coffee cup. Nilal leaned against the counter top and looked towards the entrance. It started to open as a gentleman walked in. Dress as an actual bartender he stared seeing the two young intruders. He seemed to be taken back seeing kids drinking in a bar. Naturally there wasn't any alcohol in the drinks, but he didn't know that. With his back still turned to the male Mukuro took another sip from his drink, pretending not to acknowledge him. Nilal made brief eye contact but then proceeded to get another drink from her cup.

"Cloud 9s are best heated." She said

"What are you kids doing here? This isn't a place for kids. How did you get in here?"He questioned defensively.

"The door was open." Nilal said with a chuckle.

The male was not in the lease amused by Nilal's comment. He reached behind him where he had tucked away his gun. If the boss returned with kids in his bar there was going to be hell. If he could scare them out with his gun it'll be easier then having to get violent with them. He felt something grab his wrist before he could reach his gun. He turned his head and yelled in terror. A large towering shadow looking down at him with his gun in its possession. Mukuro couldn't hold his laughter as it slipped. Nilal chuckled as well as the male looked at the two. The shadow waved in wiggled in sync with Nilal's laughter, a show that she was the one in control.

"You think this is funny!?" He shouted.

"Somewhat." Nilal replied.

"You see we actually have some business with the boss that resides in this bar after his nightly hell raising. We just thought it would be easier if we came to him this time around. You know, make things easier." Mukuro said.

The male looked at the two and then back to the shadow. It was suddenly gone and so was his gun. He heard it drop on the counter next to Nilal. He was no doubt angered by the two punks but also scared giving the shadow trick and them being ever so casual in a Mafia hangout. Nilal tapped on the gun a couple of times and each time she did pieces of the gun came undone, breaking the gun down to its insides. The Shadows casted by the gun was what was really taking it apart tiny waves of shadow sliced through the metal weapon. Mukuro swiveled in his chair towards the gentleman. Hands crossed in his lap, legs crossed.

"It seems we already have a bartender working here so I guess you won't be needed." Mukuro said.

Clinching his teeth his expression turned to horror as a wave of shadows soon crashed into him, disappearing into the floor with the male within it. Nilal smiled slightly before setting out a few more glasses, not for them of course, but for their guest. It seemed that now the two were going to have some fun with the family. Mukuro chuckled at the man's scream being dragged before looking over hearing the clinking sound of the glasses. He smiled curiously as Nilal pulled out several bottles and started to mix the drinks together.

"I'm impressed you didn't hesitate. You practically killed him."

"I don't like the idea of being hunted, besides I don't have any reason not to."

Some time later the door opened with the sound of laugh and chatter behind it. Men in black suits, poured into the bar, looking around out of habit. The only thing there that was out of place was Nilal casted by an illusion she appeared older and more alluring, after all they couldn't have a 16 year old in a bar or making drinks. Along with her the tables and bar were filled with mixed drinks and snacks. Curious of the female they parted letting there boss through. He was rather elderly looking but he was surprisingly young against his appearance. With a heavy set build and large head. He approached the bar. His men in suits would wait for their boss's judgment before sitting down.

"I was told that Andy was going to be serving here tonight. You clearly don't look like a male." He said with a thick European accent.

"Andy fell ill I'm simply a replacement." She said calmly.

The boss looked the female over. She didn't look like any other bartender that he has called on previously, but wasn't sure, thinking she might be a new person. Regardless he walked over and sat in a booth. His men followed suit and as more piled in and so did some women. Ah, the typical mafia man; money and power card to play the ladies to make up their lack of appearance. They went to the boss draping themselves over him. Nilal brushed her stray strand of hair back behind her ear. When they were all situated the door was closed and the room instantly started to fill up with cigarette smoke and loud chatter as the men drank. Nilal looked around at all the men counting them out. When she made up the drinks she was sure to use all the glasses that were available. Looks like 45 glasses was the right amount. Forty-five big lumpish and impish looking lackies and one gorilla looking boss. The merriment didn't last long as soon. The cigarette smoked turned from white into a violet haze. On the alert the men stood up. Half suddenly went down from the drink they foolishly threw back without really taking the time to examine what was infront of him.

"Oh? That's a shame I'm surprised how many of you are lights weights." Nilal said.

The men at the bar turned to Nilal who was leaning against the bar. Some must've thought they were drunk as the adult looking female soon turned into a 16 year old child. They all reached for there guns before they were froze stiff. Nilal had her arm on the closest male's shadow and use his wide imprint to link the rest all together like a chain. Everyone was frozen but the boss. The girls with him were froze as well. They started to fret and panic from being immobilized. The violet haze joined in a clearing and swirled around in midair. With a dark chuckle Mukuro formed from the haze in a solid form. The boss tried to jump up to back away, but being trapped in the booth he was stuck on his own.

"Wh-who are you?" He asked.

"Oya? You mean you don't recognize your own targets?" Mukuro said.

Mukuro reached out grabbing the scruff of the bosses shirt and pulled the male out from the booth with ease. Throwing him over he landed ontop of one of his men. Oddly enough the stiff henchman didn't budge. He couldn't which made the impact from his boss harder on them both.

"You've been sending assassin after assassin and mercenary after mercenary after us, without knowing what we look we look like? I doubt that."

"You had a fighter at the intermission event. One of the first ones to be thrown from the ring." Nilal said.

The bossed turned to look at Nilal and that's when he realized it. The arrogant little girl from the fight. He stood up and looked at Mukuro. He didn't exactly knew Mukuro other than he was with the young Vongolia boss.

"Kids shouldn't be in the Mafia. The current head of the Vongolia family is getting senile and demented, trusting such power to brats. I'm only acting before all those other fools decide on taking you punks down."

"Eh? But I was only there as a rep I honestly had nothing to do with them. If you had left it alone I wouldn't be here, and Mukuro wouldn't be so annoyed."

"Kufufu. I wanted to come back and live in silence, quietly planning my moves to take the entire Mafia down, but I wasn't given the time because of you."

The boss looked at the two, frequently back and forth. The sound of the panic female only grew louder. It started to annoy Nilal. In such a small room the screams bounced around. Soon it was likely to attract spectators. Nilal stared at the girls as shadows started to rise from the table. Covering their mouth to silence them. It muffled their screams to be more exact, but it was quieter so as long as it worked. Mukuro seemed relieved as well as he looked towards them and then back to the boss. He pointed his trident at the tip of the boss's nose. With a cold bead of sweat trickling down the side of his head. He had no choice but to do what all weak Mafia bosses do in a time of danger. Plead. Dropping to his knees the boss pleaded with the two bribing and sputtering nonsense. It was a disgusting sight for both Mukuro and Nilal to witness, and it was written on their face. Mukuro brought his trident back and smiled.

"Now now. No need to be like that. We are willing to forgive you. We just require a small arrangement." He said.

"A-anything. Anything!" The boss exclaimed.

"For every assassin or mercenary you sent. We will take that many in return." He said.

"Take? You mean to your family?"

"Kufufu don't insult us sir. We deal with our own business separately. Nilal how many did he send after us?"

"Hmmmmm in two weeks plus, about 55 I think. The first week was when it was really bad. Couldn't really do much without getting attack."

"So do you have 55 members in you family?" Mukuro asked.

The boss looked around at his family. A dead give away that he didn't have that many members at his disposal. Nilal moved away from the bar but kept her finger tips on the shadows of the men at the bar until she walked around. With tons of frozen subordinates Nilal could move to Mukuro's side without overstepping a shadow that kept the subordinates still.

"How sad, but at least you got one last drink." He said.

"3 ounce tequila, 3 ounce 151 proof rum, 3 ounce vodka, and 3 ounce gin with a dash of a secret ingredient." She said

"The name of the mix: "Kill me now."

...


	14. Guardiano delle Ombre pt2

After the brawl Dino left for Italy, only staying for a few nights at Tsuna's. He was in a hurry to try and find more pages left from the primo. He debated on telling Tsuna what he had found the first night he was there but Tsuna was so relieved from the victory that Dino couldn't bring himself to ruin Tsuna's mood. With his work done and everything up to speed Dino along with Romario returned to the room where Dino had found the pages. As bad as it sound he feared he would have to break every piece of furniture in the room in hopes of finding more clues. All the furniture in the room were old antiques from the previous' bosses, but hopefully if luck was with him he wouldn't have to break everything and lose his families trinkets. He hoped that any pages he might come across would have some light on her first thing they chose to tear apart was an old butterfly chair, and stuffed in the seat cushions were more pages. Dino noticed that the pages he found at first were out of order. No doubt the few pages he had in his hands now were mixed up as well. After a brief skim it was confirmed, the papers and notes left were disarray.

 _I've just been informed by my Intel that the Vongolia family has recruited a new member. From what they have gathered the member is female and young. How young they're not sure. In turf wars such as this the only use for a female subordinate is seduction for information, but I believe my men are capable of telling when they're being tricked. After hearing about the new member employed by the Vongolia I decided to give them a Cavallone welcome. Sending some of my best to greet them. I sent them to every bar within the Cavallone territory looking for any new faces. They returned unsuccessful. I don't believe my Intel would lead me astray, but I can't picture a female being on the front lines fighting. The next night I changed things around and sent them out into the streets. Most of them came back battered and bloodied. I was rather surprised myself when they came in saying it was a girl that did them in. In order to defend to my family I went out the next night. With only a handful of my men we investigated the areas where my other men were attacked. I was angry and distraught seeing the blood of my family and the streets and in my home. They survived the night and were recovering smoothly but I was still upset. We decided to split up and we went in our own directions. It was going on late and I still hadn't found anyone. With all my searching blinded by my needs to find the culprit I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I ended up at the docks by the harbor. At the edge of the pier I saw a young girl. She couldn't be any older than 14 if that. The light from the moon was shining down and reflecting off Crimson looking hair. I thought it was odd for a girl to be in such a place, and even more odd that she was alone and so late at night. I approached her with upmost caution. I didn't want to frighten her. I figure she might've been a lost child or runaway. The harbor was no place for a child, it was where the most dangerous of trades went down with any Mafia family. Even with a need to win the war between the Vongolia's and Cavallone we both had strong desires to spare all civilians. The main reason why we did what we did at nights. The second my foot touched the pier I was given away by a loose bored. The young girl jumped and turned towards me. She had to been injured in the commotion her right side had been bleeding shot in the shoulder, but it looked like it stopped, but I could still see the dried blood that trailed her arm. With an eye patch over her right eye, only her left eye glowed purple in the moon light. When I asked what she was doing in such a dangerous place she didn't answer. She started to approach me and instantly I felt alarmed. I couldn't understand why I felt oddly threaten by the young girl, but I was. I reached for my gun inside my coat, she was closing in and I suddenly felt stiff. I was holding my gun, but I couldn't pull it out or move back. Her eye stared deeply into mine and that's when I felt the threat I was sensing. Her eye was looking farther than where I stood. Distant like maybe a secluded child who was trying to see something extraordinary behind me, or maybe she was looking through me as if I was not even in her way. She took another step closer, but my legs and feet had betrayed me so I couldn't back up. I was at the mercy in the hands of the mysterious female possibly the one recruited by the Vongolia. I couldn't even jerk when I heard a gun being fire. The child fell over after being shot by one of my men. Suddenly I could move. It pained me even more seeing a child's blood on the pier. Thankfully the wound wasn't fatal. I could still see her breathing. I expected her to start screaming in pain, but her small fragile body was more than convincing as it trembled with pain. What spirit it took to not make a sound, but I understood why. Her scream would've alerted any of her allies in the area and she must've wanted to keep them safe. No matter, she had joined the enemy and had spilt blood. I was finally able to pull my gun on her. I had to finish her off. My gun fired but the bullet froze in mid air. Looking past the bullet I saw her eye that was losing light focused on the ground . With the bullet immobile I looked to where her gaze went. I saw a faint shadow lining from the bullet. That's how she was able to freeze me it had to have been my shadow. Interesting I thought, but I could see the bullet shake and slithered closer as she started to lose consciousness. I would have to live with the guilt with a child's blood, but for my men's safety I had no choice. The bullet finally continued full force but was soon deflect. A playing card? Out of all the randomness of things to deflect a bullet. Now more alert than ever I started to comb the area with my eyes. My men as well as more started to arrive. Mist started to roll in and shrouded the girl. I ordered my men to back away as I too retreated back. With the sound of a thud I turned around. Behind us was the Vongolia's cloud guardian and forming infront of us was their mist guardian. What a dangerous duo to have caught us. Those two had sent more of my men to the hospital and to their graves then all the others. Such loose canons. I watched the mist guardian scoop up the girl in his arm pressing on her wound. Without a word the three vanished with a heavy thick mist cloak. Now with a face to the one behind my injured men. I had to reconsider my actions especially if she was capable of controlling shadows._

No matter how many times Dino looked over the letter. It was clearly the primo's first entry. Compare to the other notes he read before this one in particular seemed more written with more aggression then the rest. Maybe it was the surprised encounter of being at the sudden mercy of a young Nilal. Or maybe a long awaited adrenaline rush behind it. Dino started to flip through the other pages. Some were folded and clipped together roughly 4-5 pages longer. He would read those later, right now his priority were the quick, short, and simple written entries. Tucked away towards the end of the stack was an envelope. Tattered and fringed with scorched marks. It had the Vongolia's crest pressed into the back, and on the front read "Cavallone". Dino could tell by the "C" and "A's" it was written by the girl. Curious he turned the envelope over. He felt disappointed to see that there was nothing inside the envelope. He hoped that maybe he would come across a letter that belonged to the envelope. He found another page that caught his attention within a matter of words.

" _it's New Years and for now the Cavallone and the Vongolia are at peace. It's only temporary though. For the first week of the new year we decided that we would all relax and not fight. I allowed my men to leave and visit their family. It was also the only time Nilal and I could spend time together without either of us being cautious. With my large home empty I offered Nilal a tour. Naturally I kept her out of specific rooms and areas. It wasn't that I still had trust issues with her, but I didn't want her to see what all we had wrote about her companions. After the brief tour we settled for coffee by the fireplace in the main room. It was cute watching her trying to adjust to the taste of such a strong caffè ristretto. She kept complaining how bitter it was but still proceeded to drink it. My my how persistent. Still a child. For the next five days Nilal stayed with me in my home. She slept in a room cross the hall from mine. It was refreshing and calming living such a style. Every morning I would meet her out in the hall wearing one of my large shirts over her own set of pajamas. We would have breakfast which Nilal had cooked herself. I felt as if I was a married man with a young beautiful wife. I knew I shouldn't have even considered the idea of Nilal being as such, but cooking meals, and wearing my shirts, the image stuck and it made me smile. I could tell Nilal was curious about my smile but never once did she ask. Though we couldn't openly go out and walk the town we still had fun in the mansion. As childish as it was we played hide and seek in the house and tag in the yard. Though she would always cheat and hide in the shadows, until I called out and then she would surprise me from emerging from the most craziest of places. I could never recall a time where I felt such odd relaxing freedom. When night came we would sit outside on the balcony outside my room. We had every light in the mansion off and every lamp post out I n the yard. Rather dangerous, but I was willing to take the risk during the time of peace. Curled up against each other on a large couch we watched the stars with a blanket wrapped tightly around us. It was the second time at that moment that we shared a kiss. Since her birthday we had not kissed, but I think we both had the same idea in mind. An unsure feeling of it working between two familias at war. I didn't push or force her any further from than that, she was still young after all. We star gazed til the late morning and watched shooting stars cross the skies. Nilal had fallen asleep. Her head over my chest and her hand clinging onto my shirt._

Dino felt queasy as he placed the paper down. It wasn't right for his ancestor to be in such a relationship with someone who got locked away in Vendicare. Not to mentioned the age gap from her being 16 and being the Cavallone Primo he had to have been in his late 20s if that. It might've been different back then, but the factors didn't sit well with the Cavallone decimo and in the day and age he was in. From what he read and how it was written his ancestor appeared to be more then just smitten with her, obviously. He figured if it was meant to be his own private memoirs it would make since to want to keep them hidden. But what Dino really wanted to know, more than anything, is what got her imprisoned. Just as he was about to read another page his cellphone rang. He was startled but quickly recovered to answer it. With a calm yet stern greeting he listened to the voice on the other end. Dino soon became overthrown with dread and fear. The caller delivered a message that a small Mafia group that had been taking part in the tournament had been wiped out. Murdered. There were no survivors. Even the female companions that joined the Mafia boss was given no mercy. Blood was everywhere, bullets and broken objects covered the walls and floor. What made it even more fearful was that no one could find any evidence of their killer or killers. If it was for territory they would've left an item or insignia, but there wasn't even that. It was more startling than he could think. He quickly hung up and gathered the scattered papers he had found and left, ordering his men to schedule a flight. He was going back to Japan as soon as he could.


	15. Ch15

Ch.15 The First Tournament

With only a matter of hours Dino arrived in Japan. The crowded streets thinned as he walked through with his men. Turning down a dark alleyway. The very same one Mukuro and Nilal had ventured down. Standing at the entrance with the door wide open: the door being painted in blood waited a Cervello. Why she was there he wasn't sure. The group that had been taken out wasn't an ally of any sort or even important. In fact the group was under close observation by the Cavallone for various devious acts, but Dino would not have warranted a total wipe out, and if he did it was not going to be in such a mess.

"Dino Cavallone this group came from Italy correct?" The Cervello asked.

"Yes they were a small group, with typical foul play actions." He answered.

"Indeed so I cannot fully accuse any foul play to a group that does foul play themselves. During this tournament there are no rules in wiping out competitions as long as the suspect's not caught. However being the center of the Italian Mafia we are required to inform you of such actions."

Dino nodded and proceeded to walk towards the Cervello. He stopped infront of the opening and looked in. It was worse then what was described to him over the phone. Mangled and maimed bodies overlapping with blood everywhere. Total annihilation of the family. The chairs and tables in shambles. The bar and its booze shattered and dripping. It reeked of alcohol and blood. What a disturbing and nightmarish site. There was no room to walk further in as a body laid infront of the door. The Cervello mentioned a clean up crew being dispatched, after which if Dino chose to do so he could begin an investigation. Dino was curious but wasn't sure if he wanted to start up an investigation he would have to consult his younger brother, since it took place in Japan. Dino scowled and felt even more unpleasant having to tell Tsuna such a thing. He would rather let it go. After all they weren't much as a Mafia as they were a gang of bullies that used the word Mafia to cover there wrong doing.

"You are free to decide what your plan is Dino Cavallone. As long as it doesn't effect your participation in the tournament we can not make any unnecessary calls."

Dino nodded his head with a strained stiffness before watching the Cervello leave. His right hand man Romario approached the young bronco. Looking inside, it wasn't a first for Romario but it was definitely one if the worse ways of seeing a murdered family. With the Cervello gone Dino leered inside the building. He felt that it had to have been Nilal. Leaving his other men to wait for the cleanup crew Dino and Romario left for Kokuyo. That's where Tsuna told him once before that was where Mukuro stayed, and that's where he would find Nilal. On the ride to Kokuyo Dino couldn't stop himself from biting his thumb nail. The scene he just saw mixed with the ideal scene romantic scene his ancestor portrayed her as. He wasn't sure how he would bring it up to her, but figured being blunt would be the best method.

...

At the same time as Dino was heading to Kokuyo so was his younger brother Tsuna. He had left earlier from his house that morning, he was taking some snacks over to the group. Mainly meant for Chrome and Nilal, but he had his mom make extras for the others. Reborn rode with him on his shoulder along the way. Reborn for the time being had been quiet about warning Tsuna about Nilal. He figured he would learn all on his own in time, hopefully. however, Reborn prayed that Vendicare would find them before that time. When he offered to go with Tsuna to deliver the goods Tsuna questioned the arcobaleno wondering what his motive was. When Reborn refused to answer Tsuna did not press the matter. Not like it would've done any good to tell him no anyways. Tsuna was the first to reach Kokuyo, meeting up with Nilal at the entrance. She was just returning from a quick shopping trip. She was buying groceries for the changes she and Mukuro's abilities had made to their "home." Tsuna waved nervously.

" sorry, but I...had my mom make up some snacks for you guys." He said.

"How nice. Please come in then and I'll make us something to drink."

Tsuna nodded and followed Nilal into the building. When she walked into the kitchen he finally noticed the major difference. When he was in his dying will mode he didn't even notice anything but now all he could do was stare and look around. A stove and fridge, cabinets and counters. Nilal began to put away her groceries and then sat out a kettle and cups. She filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove. Reborn jumped off Tsuna's shoulder and sat on the counter top.

"So uh...where is everyone?" Tsuna asked nervously

"Well I do know Mukuro is laying down. Chikusa is taking Ken for a walk, and Chrome is in her room, resting as well."

Tsuna seemed rather surprised, he honestly thought that Mukuro stayed awake 24/7. To hear he was sleeping was weird for him. Nilal chuckled lightly gathering from Tsuna's expression of what he was thinking. She reached out grabbing the box full of snacks made by his mom. The box had rice balls some takoyaki, sweet omelette and other things. Nilal took one of the rice balls and tore it open.

"Oh? this one has plum in it." She said

"Yeah my mom makes the best rice ball fillings."

"No doubt that's what moms do after all."

Nilal poured the tea once it was ready and handed Tsuna and Reborn a cup. He thanked her and took a sip. Tsuna had his moments where he thought Nilal was, well odd, but most of the time he felt like she was a good person. This was the most relaxed he had ever felt at Kokuyo. Reborn insisted on keeping his guard up. He insulted Tsuna repeatedly in his head for being so carefree and easy on an Vendicare escapee.

"Actually I'm rather worried, I haven't heard anything about our next fight." He admitted.

"I wouldn't worry. Isn't it nice relaxing when you can?"

Nilal smiled lightly at the young boss. Tsuna may not have been able to catch it but Reborn instantly picked up the possibility of her hiding something. The two went on in idle chatter. Tsuna was enjoying himself so much cutting up and laughing, in such a short time. Reborn however left, unable to handle Tsuna's open idiotic chatter. Once he was gone Tsuna sighed heavily almost slamming his head down on the table. Tsuna both understood Reborn's cautiousness around Nilal but at the same time he didn't. Nilal reached over and ruffled Tsuna's hair. It made him feel alittle better as he looked at her and smiled with a faint blush of embarrassment. He weighed his options of asking Nilal to tell him more about herself, but didn't know if she would or not.

"You changed once he left what happen?" She asked.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I mean, I've been having a bad feeling for awhile. Yamamoto's been acting strange, and I don't know if it's because of the championship or this stupid game the Mafia is doing to fight boredom, but he's been different."

"You're worried for your family? That's understandable. And Even though I asked Chrome about it, this isn't the first tournament the Mafia has hosted."

Tsuna sat up straight looking at Nilal, finishing off her rice ball and tea she sighed afterwards. When it all started Reborn didn't say that it happened once before, but that's because it had never took place during Reborn's life until now. The room was uncomfortably suffocating to Tsuna. Nilal looked like she was recalling everything from when she was part of the primo's family. Tsuna listened carefully as Nilal spoke about the tournament. She couldn't help but let Tsuna know a little about herself in the process. It would've been more challenging being vague and trying to understand it would be impossible. The tournament, back then was a means to decrease the Mafia families. The more weaker ones in precise when everyone that had a "boss" could call themselves mafia. Tsuna learned that the Cervello's were a long line family as well that hosted and judged the fight, but the ones who started the game was the guards of Vendicare. It was a game of executions. There were no survivors, no ring outs, no nothing. To win the round they were required to kill their opponent. With Vendicare at that time being a normal type prison they still housed the most dangerous of criminals, but the normal part of it started to fill up. In the end they let all the prisoners; including the dangerous ones out to return to their families. After that they waited a few days before sending out letters all around announcing the tournament. Tsuna was in shock hearing that back then they had no other options but to kill. They had made a lot of changes to how the tournament was ran now. At least they had other options. Nilal continued on carrying a solemn tone. She told him that the result to participate were the same though, disbanded and hunted down, and killed like dogs. It didn't make Tsuna feel any better when she told him that the side events was not part of it back then. It was the Vendicare guards that took out the families that ran away. It was a pure blood bath. Tsuna covered his ears only to have images appear in his mind. It had to been even worse on Nilal being a kid stuck in something so hellish.

"My first opponent showed up at the Vongolia hangout. I was only 12 then. My opponent was much older than me. Giotto tried his best to talk the Cervello's into reconsidering, because I was so young, but they didn't listen. Believe it or not when I was 12 both my eyes were naturally purple. It was during that fight that my abilities started to break through. It didn't exactly come naturally just like that. And as for my opponent..."

Tsuna leaned in silently wanting to hear the rest tossing away his dread. Nilal looked over at Tsuna and then looked over him. She could barely see it but Mukuro was waiting on the other side listening in. How long though she wasn't sure. The only thing Nilal knew was that if he didn't want Tsuna here he would've chased him out, but seeings how Nilal was talking to him by being so open he was only going to listen. Nilal looked back at Tsuna and smiled. It was a crushed and hurt smile Tsuna could pick that up instantly.

"We can just say that that both him and I had better days before that fight."

Tsuna did not like how Nilal worded the ending to her story. It was clearly meant as a cover up for what really happened. Tsuna didn't want to picture it but he thought of large room covered, ceiling to floor in blood, and perhaps a catatonic Nilal witnessing her first kill. Even Tsuna had never took a life so he wasn't sure how he was able to picture an image so clearly. Perhaps it was his hyper intuition that painted the picture cleared and detailed. Mukuro smirked after hearing the ending and vanished, just missing the heavily running Dino. Reborn was now gone; nowhere to be found. Dino stood in the door way and Tsuna turned around. The second he saw his saw Tsuna he came unglued.

"D-Dino? What are you doing here?" Tsuna asked surprised.

"Tsuna get away from her! That girl is nothing more than a murderous monster!"


	16. Chapter 16

Ch.16 Welcome Guardian of the Shadow.

"Tsuna get away from, her that girl she just wiped out a Mafia group. She killed every single one of them."

With the statement made from Dino, Tsuna looked over at Nilal. Dino instincts kicked in as he felt the urge to dodge the tip of Mukuro's trident that came flying in. Missing the bronco. Mukuro appeared next to Nilal catching the metal piece Mukuro chuckled. He had disappeared only to have to reappear just as quickly to deal with another troublesome boss. Tsuna backed away from the mist guardian, bumping into Dino midway as he came up to protect his younger brother. Tsuna looked entirely crushed and shattered. Sure he didn't know if Dino was telling the truth. To be more accurate Tsuna was just backing away from Mukuro. Nilal walked out from behind the corner staring at Tsuna. Dino stepped infront of Tsuna to protect him. Mukuro stepped up beside Nilal. She was completely calm and neutral to Dino's outburst.

"That's quite a harsh accusation Bronco." Mukuro said.

"It's not. I know it had to be her. Ever since she appeared I've been getting bad vibes and you as well clearly. You both had a part in it."

Dino pulled out his whip, with Romario nearby there would be no mishaps in his combat skills. Though Mukuro made the first attempt Nilal was the one that was going to deal with him, if he wasn't willing to listen. Tsuna ran around Dino and stood in between the two. Like always he didn't want anyone he considered family to fight.

"I'm sorry Tsuna, but I can't let her be anywhere around you. I might not be able to stop Mukuro since he's a guardian, but her I can make sure that she doesn't hurt you." Dino spoke.

"Wait a sec Dino, this is too much, if something like that happened-

"It's true." Nilal said.

Tsuna eyes widen with her confession, looking at Nilal. He didn't know how to react. Mukuro glanced at her and then at Dino and Tsuna. Tsuna was still on the dark on who Nilal was, but he hoped that she was not a killer. He almost looked like he was defeated in a mental battle weighing on what type of person Nilal was. Reborn was right. The air was suffocating, one big stare down. She had murdered.

"It's not true." Tsuna said.

"They were the ones that were sending assassins after us and too the school. Ken and Chikusa found their hangout. Mukuro and I paid a visit."

"But why did you kill them? There had to have been a better way." Tsuna shouted.

"Name one? I just told you what the Mafia back then was like and still partially is when the tournament is in play. In truth if it had just remained me and Mukuro then we wouldn't have taken them out."

"But you were the one who wanted to use the school as a target to lighten the load of them attacking you." Tsuna said.

Growing more frustrated Tsuna clenched his fist tightly. Tsuna suddenly sunk into an odd confusing state of denial. Mukuro must've had a part in it. He must've possssed her or something. Nilal walked over to the counter and opened a drawer. Aside from a few randomly placed items there were several folders. After the massacre Nilal had found a safe and inside were stacks of folders. It was easy for her to get its contents out without the combination. She walked up to Tsuna closely. Tsuna did not want to back up, but his body moved on its own. Dino closed in and when he did Mukuro readied for another strike. She held the folders out to Tsuna who more or less swiped them out of hands. He started to flip through some of them. What he saw scared him more than Nilal's open confession.

"After I told you about them targeting us. They started doing more work, it was one of the reasons they didn't strike the second I told you afterwards. Once they saw that we were associated with you they did some spying, on every single one of you. Ryohei, Gokudera, Lambo, and others affiliated with you."

Tsuna flipped through several pictures before coming across a photo of Kyoko, Haru and then his mom. Tsuna started to sweat and his hands shook. The papers rattled in his hands as he tried to comprehend what was going on, as simple as it was.

"I mentioned once before that I never lie. And despite not being part of your family I can't help but protect you when you're in danger or any one else that remind me of my once family. My methods may not have been what you would want. Not only that I'm not exactly affiliated with you so even if I was caught they couldn't punish any of you for my crime, but this is the only way I know that you and the others aren't harmed.

"I-I can't...I don't...know..." Tsuna stuttered.

Nilal looked at Dino who lowered his weapon, granted she did it for Tsuna, she was in the wrong and still dangerous and he didn't trust her in the least. Though he too had once made the same choice Nilal made to protect his family, but Tsuna wasn't ready for that dark part of the Mafia. Even if the fact was true about Tsuna and the others not being in trouble if she was caught it was still too much for the young boss. Tsuna dropped the folder and dropped to his knees ontop of the scattered pages and pictures. Nilal slowly walked up to him and kneeled down. When she touched his shoulder he jumped and started to tremble. Her hand though clean was stained with blood. It was for him and his family, but it was her fault for using the school. He felt like she had used him and his friends. If she had stayed away from the school they wouldn't have been spied on, and she wouldn't not have had to kill them, but if she hadn't then him and the others would be more concern on where they were and what they were doing. When Tsuna refused to move or even look at Nilal she stood up with a long hurtful sigh. She turned away and looked at Mukuro, smiling apathetically as always he was enjoying the scene very much.

"Cavallone, you can take him out of here if you want." Nilal said.

"Don't boss me around."

Dino rolled his whip up and stuck it back into his coat. He walked up to Tsuna slowly. Tsuna grabbed the ground crushing the papers in his grasp. He started to recover from his trauma. He felt sick and felt like crying, he wanted to be angry, but at the same time wanted to be relieved. Mixed and confused he rushed up and grabbed Nilal's wrist. He still carried the black band on him to keep it safe. He held it out to her with serious tear filled eyes. If he wanted to ensure the safety of other no matter how sleazy they were he would have to bring Nilal back into the family to restrain her.

" I don't know what we will do if another tournament comes up that requires an outside fighter, but I do know that if I let you come back you'll have to listen to me. You said you could 't stop from protecting me because of your ties with the primo family. So I know that you won't disobey me ."

"TSUNA DON'T!" Dino protested.

"You will join my family, and in doing so you will restrained from killing anyone anymore." Tsuna said.

Emphasizing the word "will", Tsuna was willing to force Nilal if she refused. He didn't know what he would do or how he would pull it off, but this way by letting her into his family he knew that atleast he could stop her from killing again. Dino clinched his teeth grinding them down. He wasn't expecting Tsuna to go that far in allowing Nilal to rejoin the Vongolia. Dino wanted to desperately talk Tsuna out of it, but in the end it wasn't his final call. Tsuna stepped back as he finally settled for a serious and stern look expression, his feeling settled as well he wasn't sick or relieved, or anything. At that moment he felt, like an actual Mafia boss. Forcing an order on someone and forcing them to join his family. Nilal smiled and looked at the black band on her finger. She wasn't expecting Tsuna to make such a call, let alone carrying around her ring with him all this time. It was more of a blind decision and possibly a bad case of judgement, but again it was to stop her. He couldn't stop Mukuro but without Nilal helping him, then he wouldn't do anything either.

"I'm not going to let you run from this Nilal, if you still refuse then I will stop you next time, at the risk of my own life."

She chuckled lightly and reached up ruffling his hair pushing his head down, as if that would make him feel any better. It actually just annoyed him feeling the urge to smack her hand away. Nilal smiled softly before glancing at Dino. He was absolutely in a rage from Tsuna's decision, and with Mukuro smiling victoriously as if it was all planned he was more than just ruffled. Nilal took the ring and placed it on her finger. Tsuna lifted his head and watched her. Again she showed the soft distant expression just like the first time she had the ring on. With a single tear forming and falling. Nilal was happy to be part of her long awaited family once more.

"I understand." She said.

Tsuna nodded his head lightly. With the fun no more Mukuro left the room. He smirked and patted Dino's shoulder as he walked by him. Dino instantly whipped around leering at Mukuro but he was gone. Everything might've been settled and dealt with but he still had some questions. With Romario right behind him he walked up closing the gap between them all.

"Though I don't personally approve of this, I can't say anything." Dino said.

"Dino?"

"Sorry Tsuna, but would you mind if a I have a word with your new family member?" He asked.

"I guess not..." Tsuna said.

Though nervous at first leaving the two. Tsuna followed Romario into the hall. They both stood outside the door in order to listen in. On the ride over to Kokuyo Dino had somewhat of a foresight, telling Romario if Tsuna was there he wanted to take him outside, if he decided to confront Nilal about the pages, but Romario was also curious and not only that, he was not about to leave his boss with a killer. Standing outside on both sides of the door frame they listened carefully, though at the moment the two were just staring at each other. Dino soon reached into coat once more and pulled out a stack of papers. Nilal did not know what to make of the papers, all she could see is that they were old and worn. He handed her a page that mentioned her but not the Primo to see how she would react. She seemed drawn in by it and wanted to play it off, but it was already blown when she saw her nickname written in the paper. But in all honesty all it looked like it was a stalkers journal entry without the Primo mentioned.

"What about it? This is just a journal entry." She pointed out.

"That page along with the others I have, we're all written by my ancestor the Cavallone Primo. There are more back at the mansion."

"So what? You want me to go with you to Italy or something and answer questions?"

"Eventually, I would like some answers regarding you and my ancestor, but I'd rather see what he had to say about you. So far you're nothing that he has described on the pages." Dino replied.

Nilal searched through the pages looking the rest over. The pages were definitely left from the primo she handed them back to Dino. She stared at his neck seeing the skull on his neck and then down at his hand spotting the flame on his hand. Dino watched her eyes and followed their gaze to his hand. To Nilal the tattoo of the Cavallone was one of the most interesting part she could recall of the primo. Dino backed away when she started to move his coat sleeve up to see more of the tattoo. He leered at her, but at the same time was confused by her action.

"I'll answer what I want when you're ready. Until then I don't want you coming back here. Nilal said

Unsure on how to respond to her demand the young bronco placed the pages back inside his coat. With a stern look to the new addition to the Vongolia family he turned around. Taking several steps away from her. He turned and glanced at her. Nilal crossed her arms waiting impatiently for his departure. He had more than overstayed his welcome. When he went past the door Romario followed behind. Tsuna looked backed to Nilal and followed his big brother out. When they were no longer in sight Nilal left the kitchen, walking down the halls to Mukuro's room. She entered his room without knocking. Mukuro was stretched out on the couch waiting. She closed the door .

"Well that was certainly an interesting wake up call to have. What did the young vongolia want?" He asked.

"He brought some snacks over. We talked. I got called a murderer. I confessed. So by his logic I cannot kill while part of his family. You were there for most of it so why ask?"

"You didn't have to tell me the parts I was their for, but it was amusing.

" for you I don't doubt. I bet you enjoyed the show."

Mukuro smiled seeing the black band on Nilal's finger. He sat up and Nilal walked over idly siting next to him. Laying her head back looking at her ring. In contrast to how dark Mukuro kept his room the ring had an eerie sheen with murky fog swirling inside.

"When he let me try it on the first time, I told him it was a pinpoint because my ability was unstable and hard to control."

"And how much of that was true?"

"enough, I guess..."


	17. Nilal, Damiana

Ch.17 Damiana Nilal

It has been quite some time since Giotto took me in as a member of his family and still I feel like I don't belong. When I was first brought here after losing conscious from a brutal assault I was everywhere and imposed on everyone, but now that I'm older I've noticed that I'm more bothersome than what I thought. Even though I'm only 9 years old right now writing this page, I'm more than capable of picking up focused annoyance, and I know it's all on me. I get that being one of the few females in his families and being so young that the adults here don't have time to deal with me, but I wish that they wouldn't assume that I need constant entertainment. I'm fine by myself. After losing both my parents I was oddly able to take fend for myself on the streets of Italy. So I'm more than capable of taking care of myself and keeping myself distracted so I don't hinder others. It's Giotto that insists on coming around after his work is done to play with me, but I don't exactly hate it. Giotto is a really nice guy and I know that he does it so i don't feel lonely, but I don't like the others assuming that I'm making him do these things.

Just to feel like I wasn't completely useless I've asked Giotto to teach me basic combat, when he asked me why I told him because I wanted to be more than just a waist of a bedroom. I guess it hurt him slightly when I referred to being a waist of a bedroom, but he agreed. After his work was done he took me to a large room, along with his right hand G. Giotto started my training. I didn't like that G was with him every time we trained. I also knew out of all his subordinates G disliked me the most, which was shocking considering that his two rebel subordinates Daemon and Alaude tolerated me better.

Giotto said I was a natural by how quick I caught on to training and techniques he showed me. I was happy to be praised by him, and I loved how he would pat my head while showing me a kind warm smile. After training we developed a routine of going out to one of Italy's famous sweet shops. He used the sweet shop as a gopher to pick up on local gossip, but when ever he visited with the shop with me, he never once talked about work or asked for recent gossip. It was strictly our time to spend together like a father and daughter. I was happy at times like this. He left his base and his subordinates to spend time with me, even though the others thought it was annoying. After we finished up at the cafe we would go back to the base and from there Giotto assigned me another trainer. It was seven days seven teachers. I would learn different things from different subordinates. Firearms from G swords kills from Asari, boxing from Knuckle and so on. The only one that I couldn't seem to learn anything from was Lampo, but he was probably the one that I couldn't even tolerate. In fact half the time he was around I think that's when Giotto said I acted more childish, because I would argue and insult him, but he really didn't seem of any use, but Giotto said that in a pinch Lampo would always come through. Not entirely sure how, but it was whatever. Not like we did anything. So the days that I was suppose to be stuck with him I would ditch and go off with Daemon.

Daemon was actually one of the more mysterious and dangerous guardians, but I respected him, plus he would take me to different places to train me instead of the typical training room. He even took me to meet his most precious someone Elena, who would teach me elegance and proper lady like manner. I know that Elena didn't like the idea of Daemon and the others teaching me how to fight, she said that there were other ways for girls to be useful to their family. She taught me how to cook and sew, but I picked up cooking faster than sewing. Elena was like a big sister to me and when I got better at protecting myself Giotto allowed me to stay with Elena. We would stay up and talk all night about different things. There wasn't much I could relate to with her because she was an aristocrat, but it was fine we still had fun together.

One conversation we had was about my name. She mentioned that when Giotto first asked for it I told him my name was Nilal, but that was my last name. Elena was the only one I ever told my full name to. Damiana Nilal. Elena told me my name sounded like a small spell or even a story book princess, on the contrast of what it meant. I told her my name was mixed between two different languages, Italian and Tamil. Damiana was the Italian part given me by my mom who was Italian, meaning "the taming of" and then Nilal was from my dad who was from Sri Lanka meaning Shadow. My name literally translated into "The taming of Shadow" between my first and last name. Elena was then teasing me saying my name sounded like a story book title, which it did. When she asked if I remember why my parents named me as such I told her that my parents said when I was conceived my mother showed no signs of being pregnant, that the doctors thought I was some sort of tumor, but were surprised when she went to labor. So pretty much it was like I was purposely keeping them in the dark of my existence, and that how my name came to be.


	18. Light gazing

Ch.18 illumination

It wasn't until later that Nilal woke up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes and then her neck she had dozed of suddenly while staring at her ring on Mukuro's couch. Because her head was at such an uncomfortable angle her neck felt stiff. There wasn't anything tiring about the day other than the Cavallone tenth boss showing up so for her to randomly fall asleep was different. It was already late in the evening judging by the orange lighting peeking under the curtains. She heard soft breathing and looked to her side Mukuro was asleep again. The way he slept was humorous to Nilal. Arms and legs crossed head lowered, like a security guard falling asleep infront of camera monitors. The only thing missing was the uniform of a security guard. Nilal stared at him briefly as he slept. He looked softer when he was asleep than awake, saying he looked innocent though might've been too big a stretch for him. Without moving from her spot spot she sunk into the shadow of the couch. Little by little her body disappeared into dark frame of the couch. Outside of Kokuyo she emerged from the base shadow of a tree. The sun was just now setting as she thought, with the day completely gone; wasted on sleeping and dealing with Cavallone the lease she could do is enjoy the night and go for a walk. Course last time she went out Mukuro got annoyed, but no matter. It wasn't going to let it bother her. She left Kokuyo and headed into town. On her way back from the store she remembered coming across a park entry with a sign advertising night flower viewing. Basically it was just small microfiber lights entwined with the branches and stems of the parks cherry blossoms and flowers. The fibers were so thin that you couldn't see them without looking really close, and the cords and outlets that powered the fiber lights were painted in camouflage so no one could see them.

On the way there Nilal stopped by a convenience store to grab a drink. In and out in just a few moments Nilal also went ahead and got her some sweets to eat at the viewing. Where she got the money for things was a mystery only she knew. Standing at the gate of the park Nilal noticed it was rather quiet. She figured that more people would come for the nightly viewing. She shrugged when she realized that it was still early for it to begin. From Kokuyo to the park the sun had just set and the stars were now coming out. There wasn't a set time for the event. All it said was that it started at the darkest part of night. So she was there early perhaps? From behind her back was illuminated by headlights of a passing car that parked on the curb just a few feet from her. She glanced over in a grimace at a red Ferrari. The purring engine shut off and the door opened. In sheer dissatisfaction she watched the Cavallone decimo exit the car, with Romario exiting the passenger side. They noticed her instantly but she enter the park in order to ignore any more face time with them. Dino rushed to the entrance, but she had vanished. In a place filled with shadows the park was her territory. Granted it was by sheer coincidence that they both arrived at the park for the same viewing. Dino was not going to be the childish one and leave because of her, and it seemed Nilal was the same even though she vanished without a word, but there was nothing to say between the two.

"Boss, will you be alright?" Romario asked

"Hm? Yeah I'll be fine I'll just fine a nice spot to watch and call when it's over." He said.

Romario sighed and walked around to the driver seat. On there way to the airport to return to Italy Dino saw the sign and insisted on going to the event. Romario was of course against it because he had left his work undone when they had to fly over here because of the murder, but the ever so resourceful Romario managed to hold off the deadlines of the papers, so that his boss could enjoy the event.

"Boss, I don't expect this to be a long time thing I do insist that you atleast let me stay, now that we know she is here."

"No, I already promised you and the others the night off. We couldn't have predicted that she would've come to this, so it's not like either of us were anticipating this."

Dino headed into the park leaving his right hand drowning in fear and concern for his boss. He had a point in it not being anticipated that they would meet. However it was still dangerous if a fight started out. It became even clearer when Romario heard the sound of his boss yelling as he tripped in the dark woods. There was so much dread behind leaving him alone. He wasn't sure if he could enjoy a night off. With a loud "I'm okay." Confirmed by Dino, Romario closed the door and waited before going against his bosses orders and followed him from afar into the park.

In the middle of the park Nilal walked out from the shadows. From the entrance to the center her clothing had changed from the Kokuyo uniform to a deep amethyst yukata with glowing blossom petals and fire fly prints at the bottom the obi of it was a soft powder pink with another thin piece of purple rope wrapping around her waist, with dark wood sandals. Even her hair that normally laid flat and untouch with its own natural volume was pulled back into a waterfall braid with her ends slightly waved, with a lotus flower clipped in the center where the two stands met before braiding down. Amazingly, the center of the park hosted more spectators that had arrived earlier than her. She had just assumed she was early. Nilal certainly got a few stares as she walked by to find a good spot. Without any questions she could tell that most of the people here were couples. Petals were falling in the light breeze that blew every now and then to keep the night air decent without being too nippy. Outside of the ring of couples Nilal found an empty spot under a large cherry blossom tree. Using her illusions a blanket appeared and she sat down. She still had few items from the stores and soon those too appeared out of nowhere. After all carrying a plastic bag while dressed finely would look weird. In her mind that is. Waiting for the event to start Nilal sat there looking past the twigs and branches and up to the sky. She could see nothing but stars shining through glistening. Relaxed and carefree Nilal felt happy she could see the reals stars and not the ones she made in her illusions back in Vendicare.

Dino managed his way safely to the center with minor cuts and saw all the people that had already been waiting for the event. No doubt that the women stared at the Italian foreigner as he walked by. He hoped he wouldn't trip while the attention was on him. That would be completely embarrassing, after something like that he would bail entirely. He easily spotted Nilal at the outer skirts of the couples by herself under a large tree. After some time to calm and cool his head. He walked up to her. His shadow casted over her and Nilal lifted her head.

"What?" She said with hostility.

"It's okay relax, you're part of Tsuna's family now." He said.

"Meaning what to you? I don't need you trying to act normal when you're constantly bellowing how dangerous I am."

Dino tried his best to keep his cool but it simply didn't hold up. He stared her down until she stood up he was still taller than her but he didn't have to look straight down at least. With a scowl he rubbed the back of his head. She crossed her arms in the sleeves of her yukata. It became awkward when he picked up the sound of faint chattering of other couples watching the two. Rather random chatter, some were making comments of a lovers quarrel and others were talking about how unique they looked together, that part didn't set well at all with either of them.

"This is annoying have a seat and join me." She ordered

"I told once before don't boss me around." Dino sneered.

Ignoring his comment once more entirely she rose her hand up to stop him before he stepped onto the blanket. He looked at her briefly wondering why she stopped him if she just invited him. She turned her hand over palm facing up before snapping her fingers. Instantly his casual wear changed into a male's yukata. The left side that showed was a solid dark gold overlapped with a dark green color that had a tribal intricate design of Genbu at the bottom, and the snakes that came out from his shell stretched and twined around the green section of his yukata. He was amazed how quickly his clothes changed, but knew it had to be an illusion. She was probably just messing with him. He pulled on the sleeves thinking it would undo the illusion but it didn't.

"You're not going to join me without proper attire, and for the record that yukata is not an illusion."

Dino looked around checking out the yukata itself. If it wasn't an illusion then that meant she was powerful enough to make her illusions real. The two sat down on the blanket and waited. It was still awhile before the trees would be lit up. Once the two had settled the spectators settled as well.

"Did you want to talk?" He asked.

"I just want people to stop looking over here before I get annoyed."

The view and area was peaceful and clear but the air around the two was thick and murky. She could've told him to get lost, and Dino would have listened ending up sitting elsewhere. No matter. If she was willing to let him join her may as well deal with her attitude. It wasn't a bad spot she had picked out either. Under one of the larger cherry blossoms in the park. It would be beautiful once lit up. Opposing what his brain was saying, telling him to keep quiet Dino couldn't stop from opening his mouth.

"We're they really targeting you?"

With his foot on the landmine Dino waited to see how she would act before applying anymore weight to the figurative landmine. Nilal took in a long annoyed inhale and then exhaled in just the same manner.

"Aside from me saying I don't fight, that has proved me wrong since returning. I do however never lie. You're free to trust that if you want." She replied.

"If that's true and you did it for Tsuna then I'm not going to worry about it as badly as I reacted, but it was still unnecessary to have Tsuna exposed to that side of the Mafia." He said.

"I didn't expose him to anything. Had you not come barreling in calling me a murderer he wouldn't have known, and possibly he wouldn't had allowed me back into the family. So that's on you."

"...I guess..." He muttered

Having been caught by his own stupidity Dino didn't deny anything. The nightly breeze started to blow again and soon petals started to fall around. The couples watching oohed and awed. At the dancing petals. The large tree that Nilal and Dino sat under rained petals as well. However the petals curved and swirled around and over Nilal in a possessed manner, purposely trying to avoid her. Dino watched the petals as well. The nightly breeze made the night abit more colder than expected but that was only because it was growing late. Soon the tree would be illuminated.

"Back there you asked about what me and the primo had between us."

Dino glanced but didn't turn his head. Nilal adjusted herself pulling her knees to her chest.

"Most of the stuff he wrote was probably true, but I don't know what all he wrote about us in general or if he actually wrote every single day and encounter we had. I didn't even know he was writing a journal with me included."

"You seemed to have been really special to him, and Cavallone's are Italy's best charmers." He snickered lightly.

Nilal chuckled lightly at his comments and nodded. The air was starting to settle slowly between them,but they both were trying theirs hardest to hold a decent conversation. Dino was hoping that by making small talk he could figure at more about what his ancestor saw in her, cause truthfully he wasn't impressed. While Nilal was thinking that by humoring him in the idle chatter he would back off and let her do what she promised Mukuro to do, but Tsuna's trust was pretty much in the bag she just now had to overcome this annoying set back, that the Cavallone started.

"He was...different. I wouldn't say charming. Such a common word couldn't describe anyone back then, anyone who had looks that was a male was considered charming to any girl if they were in a suit and had the looks. I liked that he was different. Once on my birthday I was attacked by a small group that I thought he had sent, and when I went to confront him he wouldn't listen to me until I had cleaned up. Now what kind of boss would tell someone who just broke into their house to go washed up and not call for help or shoot?" She asked

So that part of the journals was true. Dino thought. At first he thought it was weird too, to have an enemy clean up in their personal shower, no questions asked. Different was definitely a way to describe something like that. He figured that his compassion for her was one of the things she liked about him. He certainly wouldn't let an enemy in his home now. Nilal started to go on a bit more confirming most of what he had read. The only thing that wasn't confirmed was the painted silver comment that he made on one of the earlier pages he found. While she talked he noticed that when she lowered her head her glance wandered to his tattooed hand and then at his neck. He was curious on why she was so obsessed with that tattoo. True it was the mark of the Cavallone and in order to inherit it the new boss would have to do something to surpass the previous boss, and then the tattoo would disappear from the previous and appear on the new boss. It was probably the only thing Dino had that made Nilal think of the primo aside from his looks.

"You know, this tattoo holds 10 generations of the Cavallone family. From what my father told me and his father told him is that the markings are not even made from ink, but is literally the blood, sweat, pride, and tears of the primo. The black was to symbolize sweat, blue was for tears, and red was obviously for blood and green was for his pride that he had in his family."

"That sounds about right." She said.

"He always had some weird reasoning behind his actions." She added.

The chatter from the others fell silent, and without any warning in a blinding light the park glowed in bright colors. The glowing cherry blossoms lit up the center of the park. Anyone watching or capable of overlooking the park would see pinks, greens and many other colors, much like an amusement park of wild colors. But underneath the trees, colors shined and painted the viewers. In the purple yukata Nilal looked like she was glowing with the light bouncing off the material, as did with her hair and eyes. A breath taking view in general. Even Dino was entranced by how everything became painted in the thin fiber colors. Looking at Nilal from the corner of the eyes. He saw first hand the glowing hair and eyes the primo mentioned. The pink lighting from the cherry blossom really did make her hair glow, as well as her eyes. If the others were paying attention to her instead of the light, they would probably have some questions about the glowing teen. When the wind blew the trees and fibers danced and swayed. It was a beautiful site, along with the petals that glowed from the lights as the drifted down. What was really surprising was the glowing grass. The entire center of the park was carefully lined in then fibers of bright colors. As gorgeous and breathtaking as the spectators viewed it, Nilal thought it was a slight overkill, but at the same time she also over killed on her illusion powers to created her and Dino's flashy looking yukatas, so alright then.

"I wasn't expecting it to be like this. thought it was only going to be the trees." She said.

"Yeah I learned awhile back that festivals and event that people in Japan throw are usually above and beyond." Dino said.

"And I thought Italians were flashy with their events."

"Haha tell me about it. We got done in." Dino chuckled.

"So it seems." She replied.

The lights in the trees started to flicker and change. Start inform the top of the trees, well choreographed brighter shades then the pale glowing cherry blossom pink drifted and vanished after hitting the last branch only to show up on the ground. The flow of the lift continued until the entire ground was covered in placed by cherry blossom fiber lights. It was like sitting in a lake of cherry blossoms. Even the ground changed colors to look like water. A pond of cherry blossom petals. An illusion brought on by placed and timed lights. It was still very beautiful, and romantic even. That probably explained the couples...correction it was an event meant for couples. After awhile Nilal stood up, dusting her yukata, it was time for her to call it a night. The event was beautiful, but the awkwardness of being surrounded in couples that were slowly starting enter their own worlds was well awkward.

"I'm going to head on out." She said.

"You gonna be alright leaving by yourself?" He asked.

"Are you worried? I'll be fine." She said.

"Not really I'm sure you could probably still kick someone's ass in a yukata." He said

With a smirk Dino stood up. He decided to atleast walk with her until she was out of the park, but instead Nilal headed deeper into the park, just to see what else what lit up. The small placed gardens were lined with blue lightings with nightly bloomed flowers glowing, small fountains, and statues were lined as well. Perhaps her overkill on the yukatas weren't exactly as much as she thought. She didn't even think that the would line everything else and line path ways in the park.

"I probably could, but I'd rather not ruin something I put so much thought into." She said.

Nilal found herself in an open clearing surrounded in glowing blue and white mixed trees. Shining down from above was the moon. Not entirely a full moon, but it still had a beautiful blue hue and its own natural lighting that shamed the microfiber traced park. Standing in the center Nilal's shadow started to pool and circle at her feet, forming and scratching like fine thread itself it started to crawl and cover her, as she decided to disappear. Dino stood back and watched her closely. With a soft smile she looked up at the moon. In a low soft tone subconsciously she uttered.

"Nella notte

La luna splende

Illuminando il buio

Così le ombre possono trovare

La loro strada di casa"

Shortly after saying that Nilal disappeared. Dino thought it was an odd thing to say before vanishing in such away, but picked up a hint that perhaps she meant to say it so low that he wouldn't have heard, but he had. Dino was left hanging there before smiling. Just this one time thing didn't give him much grounds to still fully trust her, but now he was able to witness the image that his ancestor portrayed her as, and Dino wasn't going to lie, or deny it, Nilal did look beautiful in the yukata she had on, but he wasn't going to openly admit it. Knowing his luck and her attitude she would've made some sort of snappy comment of him trying to be a gentleman, and they would've started arguing or something missing the entire event, and missing a chance of them talking normally, which was nice. Now with Nilal gone and not much else Dino was ready to leave. Checking the sleeve of his yukata he realized that along with his actual clothes and everything his cellphone disappeared too. With wide eyes of surprise. He checked himself to see if there were any other sort of pockets or places for his phone to be. When he failed to locate such a place he got hysteric, but in a more comical dumbfounded manner as he shouted.

"Are you kidding me? Nilal! My phone!"


	19. Vendicare and Rain Guardians battle

Three weeks after the trip to the garden Nilal carried on her routine attending Nami Junior. Mukuro stayed back at the base doing nothing. With Ken and Chikusa watching and gathering any and all info half way useful to him, Mukuro simply needed to sit on his couch without lifting a finger. While sitting there waiting he started to get more curious on how he and Nilal had managed not to be caught by the guards of Vendicare. Not that he was complaining in the least, not having to deal with them was a blessing, but he wanted to know how it was possible. He thought for a while before standing up, leaving his room he saw Chrome at the end of the hallway. When he walked up to her the meek girl blushed and lowered her head.

"Are you not going to school today?" He asked.

Flustered Chrome shook her head lightly.

"School is out today for my school Mukuro-sama." She said.

"Interesting, how about you accompany me today?"

Chrome's eyes widen in happiness, if she could be of use to Mukuro she was all for it. She nodded and with a smirk from him the two were off. While out in public to keep others from noticing, Mukuro disguised himself as a common looking student. With black hair and brown eyes. Though Chrome wished he didn't hide his appearance, but she understood that he would bring in attention, while she considered herself invisible to the world. Back before his very first obnoxious encounter with Tsuna, Mukuro did some info searching of his own. He found several other small Mafia hideouts where he had purposely invaded via possession, searching for recruitment. One by one he and Chrome will pay a visit for some potential answers. Naturally not leaving any survivors that get in his way, and of course, while in the hideouts he would not have to worry about being in disguise.

The first few places they visited prove to be useless and resulted in countless injuries but no deaths. Just to keep a clean clear trail of no deaths. With the morning already dwindling into the afternoon, they tried one more final spot. The spot the two went was an old abandon looking garage shop. It looked run down and rusted on the outside but the inside was nicer, but not too nice. Built like an office, a stereotypical loanshark Mafia gets up, thugs with guns, and illegal trafficking, small fries. The all stared at Chrome and the disguised Mukuro. They appeared unfamiliar with Chrome, but when you're an underbelly low-level Mafia group you don't get to know the higher better families like the Vongolia or Cavallone. With the door closing behind them they were soon blocked by two thugs. The boss sitting at his desk with a stack of cash next to him and firearms on the other side. He stared at the students.

"You two seem lost. I hope you know what happens to lost kids." He grinned.

"Who said we are lost?" Mukuro said.

The male chuckled at Mukuro arrogance. The two blocking the doors closed in behind the two teens, pulling out switchblades to intimidate them. When they didn't react, the group got suspicious and drew guns on them instead. With Chrome's submissive appearance they were half expecting her to make some sort of cry or whimper, but she was abnormally calm for the small fry group to ignore. The boss stood up from his chair gun pointed at Mukuro. He chuckled and mist started to roll in. He returned to his normal form and the members backed away. The boss fell back into his seat easily sensing the hostility and evil lurking within him. Mukuro walked up to the desk with Chrome behind him.

"I just have a small question and I'm certain you might have some answers." He said.

"What is it?" He asked

"Despite being a small pathetic branch of the underbelly of scum you have some information about Vendicare right?"

The boss certainly did not like being called pathetic scum as he grabbed his gun and fired. The bullet went through Mukuro and made contact with one of his men, sending them to the ground in pain. Taken back by the bullet phasing through him. Though it was an illusion, a knife came down and stabbed into the boss's hand. He screamed in terror before realizing it. Mukuro laughed evilly leaning against his desk.

"Next one will be the real thing, now I need you to answer my questions." He said.

The boss looked at Mukuro watching him like a hawk as he moved away walking around. His men spread out and parted as the deranged mist guardian walked around the room.

"You see the truth is I've just escaped from Vendicare for the third time, but I've been out longer than my previous two times. I need to know what you know about the guards." He asked.

The boss couldn't stop but smirk letting out a chuckle. A Vendicare escapee of three times didn't know how they worked. He was about to respond with the most sarcastic answer he could think of but stopped when something fell onto his desk. With the sound of rattling, he looked down staring directly into the eyes of a large diamondback rattlesnake.

"Now that you've acknowledged it I would advise not breaking eye contact and please avoid being rude at all cost. What I need to know is a more detailed idea of how the guards work, or better yet a method that would make them ignore dangerous convicts. Sounds simple yes?" He said.

The boss stayed staring at the snake and as long as he did the most the snake did was the coil and rattle its tail. He wasn't sure how to answer Mukuro's request. If he was out of Vendicare and the guards have not found him then it could mean that someone paid them off to ignore his escape, or that they haven't realized that he has escaped.

"Most of the guards can take bribes and make ps deals, but aside from that if they haven't caught onto you being an escapee then it obvious that something is off." He said.

With a sigh, Mukuro lowered his head mockingly.

"I'm clearly aware of that. So how do they take bribes if it's the escapees doing?" He asked.

"Some of the convicts can make deals with them in exchange for shorter sentences or even release, but if they're locked up in the dark part where the criminals are never seen then it's impossible to make any sort or arrangement. If you escaped from the lower part and haven't been found then either the guards allowed it and are purposely letting you do as you please under close watch or they truly don't know, but that's really everything."

Mukuro cupped his chin thinking carefully. Naturally, that was going to be the only answer he was going to get until he confronted Nilal again, but even now with the open massacre, he figured the guards would've been investigating it, to see if it was him and Nilal or not. Guess he would have no choice, but to talk to her again. He turned away and headed towards the door. Chrome watched and followed behind him. With barely a sound from the boss, the snake on his desk struck and bit him. The boss screamed and fell to the ground as his family rushed to his aid. The snake slithered off into the shadows of the garage and was left with no choice but to call for an ambulance. The two headed back into town and with no real or unique answers he didn't seem to be enthused to finish out his errand.

"Mukuro-sama, I'm sorry but it might be best to ask Nilal-sama if it bothers you." Chrome said

"I know Chrome. Though I knew I wasn't going to get any answers that I truly wanted I honestly needed to fight off some mild boredom. This place if getting overcrowded with small families according to Chikusa and its smothering me to the point of sickness, but if I don't have a valid excuse as to why I'm harming them, then I'll have to, listen to Sawada Tsunayoshi and his bunch going off, and I'm afraid I don't have as much patience for them as I expressed to that lowlife bunch."

The two ended their outing and went back to Kokuyo, with not much else tondo until something interesting came up the two would end up going their separate ways and that would conclude their time together.

...

At Nami Junior it was lunch time and Nilal was up on the roof. She had just been assaulted by Hibari and was resting after his relentless attack. It ended in a draw with the arrival of extra students coming to the roof unaware of the two occupying the section for their fight. They wouldn't be as lucky after school for interrupting his fight by crowding. Nilal started on her lunch when the door opened once more. Yamamoto rushed over to Nilal. And sat down. He seemed worried but excited at the same time. Panting he had ran from the baseball field all the way to the roof.

"You gonna make it?" She asked sarcastically

He nodded and fell back basking under the sun regaining his breathing. Nilal stared at him and waved her hand over his head. A cold towel appeared and dropped onto his head covering it. Yamamoto rubbed his face with the he cold towel and sat up feeling refreshed. With a loud "woo" he wrapped the towel around his neck.

"My fight is tonight. On an island, a few miles off the Namimori beach. I know I've managed to avoid telling Tsuna even though I still feel bad and I know he's probably realized I've been different, but if all possible I would like for you to come just in case."

"Huh?"

With Yamamoto's request Nilal stared at the baseball obsessed guardian. He really should've been telling Tsuna about it and not trying to hide it any more. Tsuna couldn't stop him since he kept it a secret after so long while worrying Tsuna of his change in personality during the time. They sure did take their sweet time though in finally setting getting to the fight itself. It had been like what a month? And now they're like time to fight

"I know I should tell Tsuna but I don't want him to flip out. I've kept it hidden from him since day one that if I tell him now it's likely to really upset him."

"But if you don't tell him and you show up tomorrow injured or not even show up at all he's going to be even more, worried. You really need to consider telling him Yamamoto."

"You too huh?"

Yamamoto fell back down whip his arms behind his head. He told Nilal that Reborn found out, but Reborn said it wasn't his place to tell Tsuna, it might have been a different story if Yamamoto had stopped his training, but Yamamoto kept his dedication to his swordsman ship and his baseball. Training himself day in and day out. Right down to it Reborn said it was up to him if he wanted to tell Tsuna or not.

"I don't mind being there if you need support, but it'll be more effective on you having your friends there instead of some convict."'she said.

"I guess you're right, maybe I don't want to disappoint him. For the longest time, I just thought this Mafia thing was a game, but now that I know otherwise I don't know the best way."

"Go in as an idiot." She said flatly

"You went in thinking at first it was all a game, right? Then go in thinking it still is. You know the truth, but that doesn't mean you should go into a fight any different.

Yamamoto smiled and laughed at Nilal's words, taking them in as encouragement he felt better. He decided to do the right thing and tell Tsuna, but he would wait until the last possible moment. He knew that the only one that would probably give him all the grief would be Gokudera, but Gokudera always gave him grief and he's learned to handle and deal with him, so it wouldn't even be that much of an issue. With it finally decided Yanamoto would wait til later in the evening just before his fight starts.


	20. Amplify Soen Ryu

That night Nilal headed to Namimori beach, after talking with Mukuro. In response Mukuro shrugged allowing her to leave on the condition that they would need to have a serious talk when she came home. Nilal had a theory of what it might be about but didn't say anything and left. She was first to arrive and was waiting for the others. The cool refreshing sea breeze was shortly ruined by the loud and angry lectures given by one very disgruntled and pissed of Gokudera. Since waiting until the last minute to inform Tsuna, Gokudera slammed Yamamoto for his stupidity. Tsuna was hurt of course and worried, but happy that it wasn't him that had done something to upset him it was really bothering him that Yamamoto was acting so strange for so long that he started to blame himself. When Tsuna saw Nilal waiting at the shore he rushed up to her. Maybe it was a coincident that she was there, but seeing Yamamoto break out with a friendly "Yo" and a wave meant he had invited her.

"Yamamoto invited you too?" He asked

"Yeah, I'm the other part of the support party." She said.

Yamamoto looked at Nilal with an apologetic smile as Gokudera turned his attention on Nilal for a scolding. Yamamoto had let it slip earlier that he had told Nilal first about his fight which made Gokdera even more angry cause she was still unacceptable in his eyes . As he went to open his mouth ready to unload his displeasure he was stopped. His shadow stretched in the nightly light made contact with hers and she used it to stop his mouth from opening anymore. Manipulating his shadow to have his mouth hung agape she looked at Tsuna. Again, a terrifying skill of his new acquired guardian. From behind the four a Cervello judge walked up.

"Vongolia Rain Guardian Takeshi Yamamoto, your opponent for the night is already on the island. You have 20 minutes to reach the island for your fight." She said.

"Oh? I wasn't aware that I would need a way to the island." Yamamoto said.

"That's typical. Glad to see that after so long you still like to leave out key detail as to how one gets to their fight." Nilal said.

The Cervello looked at Nilal as she stared back. It was part of the tournament for the fighter to find their way to their own fight. The Cervello's were judges not resources for transportation and not babysitters. Still though it irked the judge. Yamamoto sighed and looked at the island. Even with the calm waves it would still take over the exceeding time limit to locate a way there and then to find their way to whatever arena they have for them.

"If he doesn't make it there he is disqualified." She added.

"And that's that." Nila replied

Tsuna was upset and scared that Yamamoto was going to be disqualified because of some stupid rule. Nilal sighed and patted his shoulder, walking away and off Gokudera's shadow he didn't know who he was going to lashed out at first the Cervello or Nilal, but his rage was boiling. She patted Yamamoto's shoulder and lured him over by Tsuna and the others.

"Ever been to that island before?" She asked.

Yamamoto looked at the island and started to think. It instantly clicked that the island was the island he was pulled up on back in middle school when they were helping Ryohei and those so called "lifeguards". He nodded and confirmed the island along with Tsuna and Gokudera. She nodded and looked over at the Cervello.

"Ok we got this bye bye." She said rudely.

The Cervello frowned showing mild annoyance in Nilal's attitude. She left the four and Nilal stayed over by the boys huddling them closely.

"Oi why did you send her away we could could've gotten a hint out of her." Gokudera said.

"We don't need it." she said.

Nilal pointed towards a large tree that towered only slightly over the rest. The three boys looked over and Nilal stared it down. With their shadows closed in and linked they all started to panic suddenly feeling themselves starting to sink.

"W-wait! Nilal?! What are you doing?" Tsuna asked

"Stop this crazy psycho" Gokudera called out.

"Shut up close your eyes and hold your breath."

As soon as she warned them and everyone took a deep breathe the four fell into their shadows. Wanting to scream but couldn't Tsuna and the others closed theirs eyes tightly. It was only brief but what Tsuna felt was a deep suffocating pressure that wrapped his every being, along with a cold blistering chill. The feeling again was only brief as he soon felt a crisp breeze and the pressure he felt was gone. He opened his eyes and saw Gokudera and Yamamoto. Along with Tsuna the two were confused trying to comprehend where they suddenly were. Nilal was the last to emerge out from the shadow of the large trees she had pinpointed. Gokudera glared at her and snarled.

"You, what the hell was that?!" He asked.

"A way to the island." She said

"A way? How?" Tsuna asked.

"I used this tree as a marker to get us her. We just traveled through via shadow."

"Awesome!" Yamamoto said.

With an excited laugh from Yamamoto and a more nervous unsure laugh from Tsuna the four started to move about the island. They failed to get an exact location of where Yamamoto's fight was located, they decided to head to the edge of the island to start their search. Best place after all the first step out from the forest and they saw a large glass platform over the water. A Cervello and a hooded figure was waiting for his arrival. Under the glass platform fish and sharks could be seen swimming around.

"The battle of the Vongolia rain guardian vs. the Koshmar water guardian is about to commence. Spectators please remain off the platform. The rules are simple the victor is determined by 10 counts down, immobilizing, ring outs, and death. There is no time limit. Please get ready."

Nervous by the Cervello's announcement Tsuna stared at Yamamoto. He was calm and excited unwrapping his sword that he had brought with him. Walking onto the platform he stared at his opponent. Tsuna and Gokudera had the similar idea that perhaps Yamamoto's opponent was from the same family as Chromes opponent, they failed to have mentioned it to both Mukuro and Nilal but they too had only showed up after they match had started, meaning that they didn't hear Chrome's opponents' family name. Nilal looked around trying to see if there were any spectators from the opponent's side. She couldn't sense anything, but last time after Mukuro won they were ambushed by half illusion and half sludge puppets or whatever they wanted to be call. Tsuna watched with his mind and body slowly filling with anxiety. Without warning in swift motion Yamamoto's opponent made the first strike. In full force, he tackled the rain guardian. Yamamoto was sent flying back already just like that the wind was knocked out of his lung. With a heavy cough Yamamoto sat up. His opponent struck again and he rolled over to dodge. Stopping at the edge of the platform he turned dipping the tip of his sword into the water, as his opponent came torpedoing in Yamamoto formed a wall of water to deflect him. It slowed the opponent but didn't stop him as he crashed against the platform. In a split-second Yamamoto was able to roll over once more out of the way. When his opponent hit the platform he practically splattered against the glass like water and rained everywhere. Tsuna and Gokudera stared questioning what just happened. Yamamoto stared as well. Seeing the deflated cloak now, lacking form.

"Remember what I told you Yamamoto." Nilal called out.

Yamamoto looked at Nilal, but as soon as he did the guardian spikes of splattered water cause by his opponent sprung, needle like spikes penetrated Yamamoto passing through him, reforming behind him. Tsuna watch in horror seeing the water enter blue and then exiting his friend dyed red. Yamamoto turned and look back as his opponent.

"Oi! If that bastard can become water he may as well be cheating!" Gokudera complained.

"We have done several observations and test on the Koshmar family to ensure that theirs is no cheating. Outside of the ring a special powder has been mixed inside a special barrier incase their fighter tries to take refuge in the water it will change colors. Along with that there is no rule against them using the water around them as long as they do not physically enter it." The Cervello said.

"Bastards." Gokudera gritted.

"Nah that's just them. Don't ever expect anything new or upstanding from them. They're about as shady as their appearance." Nilal said.

Yet another Cervello frowned at Nilal's comment before turning back to the battle. Yamamoto was already bleeding, and battered and had only just started. He had to think of a way to get on the offense but like his training with Nilal he had to keep defending himself. Not even getting enough time in to bring up his new water bands that he worked so hard on with her. With his enemy right up on him, his opponent started to waver and ripple. Both Tsuna and Nilal picked up a bad feeling.

"Yamamoto dodge!" Tsuna called out.

Yamamoto looked over at Tsuna and did as he told. Dodging his opponent barely missing a direct fatal attack of piercing water needles. He turned around and with his opponent trying to reform he decided to strike. Taking his sword, he ran in and sliced upwards. His opponent was split by the assault but without being fully back together his attack didn't do anything. His opponent expanded and fanned out coming at Yamamoto from all angle. Yamamoto braced himself for a full impact. As the fanned out aquatic opponent slammed into him with the intensity of a tidal wave. Gokudera and Tsuna watched as Yamamoto was tossed up and slammed onto the platform. Pressurized by the weight of the tidal wave of his opponent he was pinned until it was over with.

"I can't help but notice, this fighter isn't exactly talkative, but so wasn't the other one. I guess the Koshmar family is a family of mutes." Nilal said.

"How can that be the only thing on your mind?" Gokudera asked.

Nilal didn't answer and instead watched as Yamamoto sword was forced out of his hand the controlled water sending it up flying into the air. Hurdling towards Nilal, it was simply the trajectory of the sword and nothing against her, but instead of dodging Nilal caught the blade. The slick steel made a cut in her hand as it dripped off the tip. Tsuna started to flip out wondering what they were going to use to stop her bleeding hand. Waiting until the water broke away from Yamamoto to reform Nilal tossed the sword back in. The hilt land on top of Yamamoto's hand. He was lacking oxygen from the assault and the water pressing in and through his wounds made it hard to deal with. Flushed out by the cold temp of it his body was numb, but oddly enough he could feel a strong heat emanating from his sword.

"This'll make it easier." Nilal thought.


	21. Soen Ryu 13th form

The heat Yamamoto felt from his sword started to climb up his arm and through the rest of his body. The droplets of water left from the assaults grew minds of their own as they fled to the sword. Yamamoto took a deep breath and started to recover. His body felt light and the pierced holes that were bleeding had stopped. He could feel a strong fluid like motion coursing through his veins. It was an odd sense of power he was feeling. The droplets that fled to his sword started to eat away at the blade. Yamamoto watch frantically as the steel of his shintoki vanish before him. Tsuna now officially worried considered in telling Yamamoto to throw the fight. There was no penalty in throwing it anyways, he hoped. He showed up and that meant he could forfeit without the family being disqualified.

"Yamamoto!" He called out

Instead of turning to Tsuna who called out in distress, he turned towards his opponent sensing an oncoming attacking. With full force his opponent struck. Yamamoto swung his sword. Gokudera cursed his stupidity thinking that he didn't remember that last time the sword was thrown and he was pinned, but this was different. When the sword snagged his opponent in his swing and the attacker was sent flying, and even more so drops of blood from the attack that made contact with the water turned a dark red color. Confused Yamamoto looked over at his opponent puddled on the ground. He could see water trickling out from its cloaked sides. His opponent was bleeding, but how? Nilal let out a whistle of astonishment. Her amplifying ability was working wonders with Yamamoto, though it had only unscrewed the lid to what he himself could've done with a few more years of training and hard work.

"Right"

Yamamoto prepared himself but kept a watchful eye on his sword. He notices that the steel blade had been entirely removed and all that was left was a sword made of pure water. It looked like some crazy trick to everyone aside from Nilal, but it showed promise by injuring his opponent. With a sword of pure water Yamamoto decided to try his new ability. His opponent recovered and attacked, charging at him, braced for his opponent's strike, drops fell from the tip of the sword hovering in some sort of gravitational pull of his sword. The drops closed and then grew into the rain bands he worked on. Stopping the enemy, it was weird for Yamamoto to hear sounds of metal on metal with two weapons made of water. The bands did what he hoped they would and kept a distance between his opponent's weapon and his blade. With full power he pushed his opponent back, but his opponent fanned out, homing in for another 360 attacks. While fanned Yamamoto spun and whipped his sword up. The rings flew off from his weapon and through his opponent. With an opening he ran through before his opponent could close in. More drops hit the open water turning red. Tsuna and Gokudera were trying to think when Yamamoto mastered such an incredible skill. More drops fell from sword and more, blades appeared. It wasn't what he was expecting from his new technique, it was something more powerful, that worked. More water could be seen flowing onto the platform and off the side into the water as it turned red, it scared Yamamoto thinking his opponent was bleeding to death, but with no way of really knowing he wasn't sure how much more he needed to attack.

"Hey. I don't want to really kill you and I can't tell of you're bleeding or not, but if you could atleast give me a sign that I'm not hurting you really bad I would feel a bit better." Yamamoto said.

"That idiot, what's it matter." Gokudera muttered.

"He's not as badly injured as he appears He's planning something." Nilal said.

" what do you mean?" Tsuna said.

"Remember the last one with the smoke that seeped under its cloak. This has to be something similar."

"If that's the case-"

"Yamamoto might be in trouble." Tsuna concluded.

From under the platform the red color dye swarmed and formed under the two fighters. Yamamoto watched carefully but at the same time watched his opponent. It was clear when the red dye pierced through the glass platform. Yamamoto desperately having to dodge. And because the opponent was still in the ring the attacks coming up was not considered against the rules. When one stream came to close Yamamoto swung at it. The red stream sliced through his sword, but his sword repaired itself just as fast. The red stream curved and turned like a ball in a pinball machine bouncing off the surface. Soon the platform was covered in red needles made from the enemy's "blood". The sword may had repaired itself but he couldn't make it towards his opponent. A stalemate perhaps?...Perhaps not. Yamamoto's opponent maneuvered through the red threads toward him at a fast pace. With little room to dodge. Yamamoto was pushed to the edge. Behind him he saw a shark that had been lured in by the drops. That confirmed the red coloring was blood. Tsuna spotted the shark and his heart hit the pit of his stomach. His opponent was going to push him onto the shark. He was going to be killed.

"YAMAMOTO!" He called out.

Yamamoto was pushed back falling into the the water. Hoping it would work, even though he had no idea it would, placed his sword behind his back. The bands made contact with the water and surprisingly spun with such vigor it kept Yamamoto from falling, but parallel to the ground he was stuck there, until he could think of a way out. He wasn't allowed much time. His opponent shot up in the air, his plan was to strike Yamamoto from a height and send him into the water. It just kept getting worse for Tsuna to watch as the figure came down spiraling. Yamamoto watched with the bands keeping him a float he thought of an idea. Another stupid one like when he allowed his throwing arm to get bitten by Ken. Like he did with informing Tsuna he waited until the last possible moment. The blades from the sword expanded and propelled Yamamoto forward. His opponent hit the water and the shark with a splashed turning the lining of his full body blue with streams of red coming out, confirming that his opponent was also injured and out of the ring. The impact from him though stunned the shark and once it recovered swam off. However, by forcing himself forward earning him a victory by ring out Yamamoto took a direct hit from the thin red needles. Luckily, they didn't cut him in any fatal manner, however they still imprinted cuts on him. Hitting the ground his sword followed suit, landing beside him the sword rattled and the water evaporated revealing his un-touched undamaged shintoki. The second the Cervello's called the battle and Tsuna tried to rush to his rain guardians side, but the weird red needles were still up. Nilal looked around carefully before safely pulling the needles apart at their base using their shadow so they could bring him to safety. The guardian was out cold and wounded severely. Though the warmth and heat stopped his first set of pierced wounds, they started to drip crimson once more. Panic Tsuna tried to think of a solution. He stopped when he heard the sound of extra footsteps as a medical team arrived. Who sent them no one was certain, maybe it was from the Cervello's, or maybe even from reborn either way Tsuna felts huge weight lifted off of him from their arrival. While on the island they waited for the team to finish Yamamoto, waiting for him to be deemed stable enough to transport to the boat. Tsuna held onto his sword looking around. He spotted Nilal who was still clutching her hand. It was still bleeding from earlier, but barely. Tsuna rushed over grabbing bandage wrap and tape before heading over to her.

"I'm not be really good at it, but please let me wrap your hand." He asked.

"There's no need Tsuna the cut has pretty much stopped." She said.

"I know but still just to keep it clean until you get home." He said

Nilal held out her hand and allowed Tsuna to wrap her hand. Sloppily and very twisted up he hung his head in shame when he finished. A nice gesture, just failed is all. Since the fight was over Tsuna started to think on the next fight. There was no, clue who it might be, but was happy that Yamamoto's turn was done, dreading it at first, he realized that he still had time to recover and get ready for his baseball. Tsuna sat next to her fidgeting. After some time thinking it over, he felt kinda of bad bossing her around by forcing her into his family. The intentions were good, but the method was tactless, but he wondered if she really would've stopped killing if he hasn't forced her. He shivered at the cold breeze and noticed that it felt like he was traveling through the shadows to get to the island.

"Say Niala, random question."

"What?"

"That feeling I had when we traveled through out shadows to get here, does that happen to you?"

"Feeling? You mean like the tight bind suffocating feeling with the piercing cold touch."

"Yeah."

"Not anymore. In fact, it's pretty normal for me, but I won't be doing it anymore with you guys. In truth it's dangerous to do that without proper training, but I seriously doubt the cervellos would've had any hints for us as to how to get there. Plus it helped that you all knew the island so it wouldn't had been that much a problem.." She explained.

"B-but still thank you for that. Reborn said that if we were disqualified we would be hunted down more or less…Kyoko-chan too" he said

"That's the mafia for ya"

Tsuna stared at her horribly wrapped hand. Her hand had not bled through so that was a good thing. When the medical gave the okay to transport Yamamoto out they followed the medical team to the opposite side of the island where a boat was waiting for them. They boarded the boat and headed back to the mainland. Yamamoto was out cold sleeping soundly. Gokudera was sitting across from Nilal but was glaring at her harshly. Only a mile out from the island and Tsuna had fallen asleep, exhausted from the nights event he had fallen asleep against Nilal


	22. Guardiano delle ombre pt3

After being followed by Romario into the park and rescued after being stranded without his phone. Dino and his family returned home. He spent his down time searching for more information on Nilal. It was almost an obsession by how much he spent looking for pages. With the archive rooms furniture mostly in shambles he had discovered something new. Hidden in an accent chair placed in the farthest corner of the room, the Cavallone boss had found an envelope filled with letters addressed to him, and the sender was Nilal. The first letter seemed to grab his attention as the Cavallone Primo's given name was present.

 _Dear Oliviero,_

 _Surprised? I bet you weren't expecting me to figure out your true name. I told you mine when we first met, but you never told me yours. I had to give you a nickname, and even then, I heard people calling you Black Horse. I won't say who but I overheard your subordinates talking while I was infiltrating your home to deliver you this message, along with your gift. So, I had to rewrite this letter so I could throw your name in for fun. I know you invited me to celebrate your birthday, but we are both smart enough to know that I would be discovered instantly. I am too familiar looking to your men to be able to enjoy your party without guns firing and mayhem, but I plan to visit you later. I hope you enjoy your gift and birthday and I will visit you soon._

 _Nilal._

A rather short letter, but the first to have been written by someone other than the primo. Dino thumbed to the next page behind the one he just read and then the next. Most of the pages written from her mentioned just her daily events and comments like a girl's diary. It wasn't until twenty pages in that her letters started to be come more open and romantic like. Signing her letters off with "Love Nilal" with additional comments of missing the primo. Dino sat himself in the floor in the far corner of the room where he had found the notes. He had also found more pages. With so many scrambled pages it was hard for Dino to keep track on what the exact stage of their relationship was. Mixed into the pages of the primo's entry he found one that wasn't his. Another letter written by Nilal found in the stack.

 _"Today the Kāṭṭu kutirai (wild horse) invited me on a nightly ride. I was free from work so I accepted his offer. We met up in a quiet area and took off. We often talked about nothing. We had grown accustomed to keeping work out of the conversation when together. He greeted me as he always did; warm strong embrace and a small peck on the forehead. He had to lean over which always irritated me, but not in a bad way, and because we had to be careful, most of our outings consisted of him disguising himself as a carriage master, and I would ride in the carriage alone. He always had an outfit or two inside the spacious cart just for me as gifts. He had amazing taste and I loved the outfits he would pick out for me. We would chat using a thin sliding panel that opened into the carriage. He drove the carriage far out of town where it was safe. I remember walking out of the carriage in a purple asymmetrical hem dressed in an illusion top, and gems scattered about the dress. He had placed a pair of silver cross strapped heels in the carriage and I wore them with the dress. I felt like a doll by how I was dress. I didn't have anything against dressing up as such as much as the money and time spent on me. I feared that maybe the gifts he got me would end up being investigated by his men. I didn't want him to get hurt by his own family. After he reassured me that everything was fine, he unhitched the carriage and rode to our destination on horse-back. We rode a large black Clydesdale up a hill through the forest. Sitting between his legs with one of his arms wrapped around me. His body heat was always so much warmer than mine, but it felt good in the night. Making our way through lightning bugs flashed and glistened around us, and above us clear skies of raining stars slid across the sky. It was beautiful. Like a kid I kept my head up staring and I could hear him chuckling lowly at me. I had the idea of pushing him off the horse for making me feel so embarrassed, but I didn't. From out of the woods into a clearing over looking the city of lights and flames. We dismounted the horse and onto a late-night picnic set up. Small snacks and drinks already prepared we sat down on the blankets. As unladylike as it was I laid back on the picnic blanket and stared at the sky. The Stars were still raining and streaming the sky. It was beautiful and very romantic. He laid next to me and I curled up against him in his arms happily. In his low voice he whispered "Tesoro mio." "My Treasure." In Italian. I looked at him and smiled. "Eṉatu putaiyal". He seemed confused until I translated it. It was the same thing "My Treasure" just in Tamil. A fun game of translating back and forth every sweet nothing we said to each other for no reason. It was really amusing. Towards the end we made a way of consummating our relationship. No physical contact or anything extreme, but I will have to leave him with a written translation, for him to remember what I say to him. It wasn't meant to be anything depressing, but a code of a certain kind. A more poetic kind._

 _Nāḷ_

 _cūriyaṉ kuḷōs_

 _oru taṭattai viṭṭu_

 _niḻal vaḻivakukkum_

 _taṅkaḷ vīṭṭil iruntu_

 _He looked at me and it took him awhile, but I managed to teach him the proper way to say what I had said. Translated into English one would say._

 _In the day_

 _The sun glows_

 _leaving a trail_

 _To lead the shadow_

 _Away from their home._

 _He was the sun that led me away from my home, he snickered and kissed the side of my head. It was then his turn. He spoke_

 _Nella notte_

 _La luna splende_

 _Illuminando il buio_

 _Così le ombre possono trovare_

 _La loro strada di casa._

 _When ever we would depart the moon was always behind his home but led me home. I was the moon that showed him back to his home. We both met each other in the middle pulling each other too and from ones home._

Dino sat the paper down, what she had said back at the park was what his ancestors said to her. Two halves of two opposite languages, two replies between one and the other. The words from the primo was simple enough in translating. Even a novice in Italian could get the idea of what he said to her.

In the night

The moon shines

Illuminating the dark

So, the shadows can find

Their way home

Short chapter. Also Thank you to everyone who is/has been following Guardian of Shadow. It means alot when I get notification about people following or adding it to their alert list. I know my grammar and sentence structure is a bit bad, but i still appreciate it. Thanks again~


	23. How We Escape?

Tsuna had woken an hour later feeling the boat buff the shore Yamamoto was already air lifted to the Namimori Medical for his injuries. He wanted to go and make sure he arrived safely, but exhausted from the late night and the battle Nilal insisted he head home and head to bed.

"Alright then can you go?" he asked Nilal.

Pausing for a minute she looked at Tsuna and his big eyes pleading that she go. With an annoying sigh she nodded her head. Relieved Tsuna tanked her and left with Gokudera behind him. She vanished shortly and appeared in front of the hospital, during the late night no visitor should be allowed, but that wasn't an issue for Nilal, thanks to her ability she found his room easily. Wrapped up with bandages stained with blood, two IV drips and oxygen, Yamamoto was in bad shape. Next to him a small desk where Nilal sat a vase filled with African Violets and Anemones.

"You're going to really feel it when you regain consciousness." She said quietly.

Knowing he couldn't hear her she saw his sword in the room in its wooden form. Upon close inspection she saw blood stains on it, a mix of her and the opponents. She pulled out a rag and wiped the sword clean the best she could before placing it back where it was.

"Alright then. Take care and rest up."

Nilal left quietly and returned to her home in Kokuyo. Knowing he would still be up to talk, Nilal went to Mukuro's room knocking only twice she walked in. Mukuro was waiting for her over by the window looking out towards the forest behind them. He looked towards casually her as she closed the door and walked over.

"Did you have fun?" He asked.

"I didn't go there for fun, I went to play support, as a bonus he won his fight." She said.

"Then it wasn't an entire waste letting you go." He concluded.

Nilal joined Mukuro over by the window but stood more to the side of him. Leaning against the window with his arms crossed he grinned and looked out.

"I'm ready for you to tell me about how we are and still able to slip by the guards." He said.

"I'd figured that's why you waited up for me."

"Probably."

Nilal stared at him, and soon Mukuro told her that he went out for answers on how to slip by the guards. He knew almost anyone in the mafia's pocket could be bought with something and even guards in Vendicare were no special cases. Without trying to make it sound like he was accusing her of making some sort of an arrangement with them, that was exactly the way it came out as. Nilal rolled her eyes tiredly, instead of snooping like an idiot with Chrome he really should've just asked her, though she probably wouldn't had told him anything. Thinking back though nothing really would've came out of him knowing.

"There was no sort of arrangement. I was there way before you became a resident there remember, but I guess their mistake was putting you near me."

Nilal explained that back then Vendicare was careful when putting criminals together. Even when the criminals were sentence in the deepest part. The guards claimed that certain connections could be made with like abilities and power one another like a charger. Which could explain why Mukuro's mind could wonder so openly, he was next to Nilal who was equally sensitive and had her own abilities. Nilal called it a life force transfusion. When he was placed next to her his sensitivity pick up her amplifying ability, and by tapping into that she woke up and had access to draw energy from him that allowed her to become more active.

"That's all well and good but how are you keeping the guards off us." He asked.

"Well for two years you were not aware of me until I showed up. I've had two years of storing the energy you and I shared back and forth, and those times you used too much energy I took what you had left and stored it myself which was why Chrome slept so long after you would possess her. Chrome had to draw in your energy to let you know what was going on. You had to draw her energy to make the link to her to keep her organs functioning, and then I took small amounts from your guys link, and then made a link so I could see what all had changed in the world, which is why I wasn't so shocked when I took my first step after being locked away for so long, and that allowed you have to a stronger link, so you could keep the link open between you and Chrome longer."

"Interesting, but that doesn't answer my question."

" I was planning an escape, and I made the link between us stronger, so I could atleast let you free too as thanks, and with more energy I was able to send the guards into their own little world."

"Now tell me how you knocked out the guards."

"Right, not sure if this will affect you or not, but if it does then it won't take much to get you out."

Nilal turned her head long enough to remove her contact over her right eye. Mukuro leaned over trying to get a better look. She turned her head and when her silver eye met his. He watched her pupil grow into a large black mass before shrinking into an endless silver void. Just as it did Tsuna attempting to pull Mukuro into an illusion. His own eye changed as well jumping from path one to two without his command: the path that allowed him to use the abilities of others. It worked in his favor by cancelling out the ability of Nilal's eye. Curious, Mukuro stood and reached out and closed the gap between them cupping her chin, focused on her right eye. He could no longer see her pupil as it was gone. All there was was an eye with a silver circle, no light, no sheen, nothing.

"Consider yourself special for your six paths. Normally anyone who looks directly into my eyes when my silver eye is expose is dragged into an illusion by force. Even inside of the dreams of sleeping people if they see it, they don't wake up."

Mukuro broke his focus from her right eye and finally looked to her natural purple eye. Catching the glimpse from the corner of his eye he saw a black ring form and close in the center of her eye forming her pupil followed by the gloss and sheen a normal eye would have. An interesting feature, even one he would much like to have. He covered her right eye with his hand, his thumb brushing her brow lightly. Nilal felt weird as her heart thumped against her chest.

"So that's what you used on them?" He asked.

"I was able to take out most of them, but the ones I didn't get don't work the underground part of the prison. They probably just assume that they keep missing one another, but it's a good chance that the ones sent into their illusion are dead."

"Kufufufu. Impressive. No doubt from lack of common essential one needs to survive.

"No, depending on their hearts at the time depends on what sort of illusion. I have no control over what illusion they are sent to, I just know that if they are dark or evil then so is the illusion they end up in, and the only way out is if I get them out."

"So, once they find out they'll be after those who escaped." He said.

Nilal nodded and Mukuro lowered his hand, back to her chin he stared once more watching her pupil expand and then dwindle into the void of silver color once again. It was amusing to him just by watching her eye change. Though he wasn't completely affected by the eye, his left eye trembled sensing the pulling effect giving him a small headache.

"They can't make any sort of plan without knowing who all escaped, I don't even know if I'm still on record since my file it so old, but they could still know. They know what you're capable of, but the guards now probably couldn't stop me even with my file, cause all it says it what I did, not how they contained me."

"So, no matter how it looks. They can't take me if they know you're around. So even if I wanted to I couldn't dispose of you."

"Well you could if you've wanted to, but now that I'm back in the family we have to get along, but if I wanted to I could go solo, but I rather enjoy myself staying here with the others. Though back on the matter of comatose victims the only other way to wake the ones up that have been sent into the illusion is to kill me, but that's if they're not killed instantly by their own created illusion, also over time the link to me that allows me to go in and bring them out thins and vanishes and they're just stuck their forever, and then they'll die."

Mukuro was certainly impressed by Nilal's ability, any illusionist would kill for such. It would even work to his advantage in taking out the Mafia and saving pointless bloodshed, but that would not have been fun in the lease; to do it all without some sort of mess. So, this right eye of hers, was probably one of her best assets. Her amplifying ability was one as well, but so far with no actual need for it, it wasn't as interesting as this. Nilal reached up grabbing his hand that had remained cupped under her chin lowering it down and holding it. He stared at her and she stared back. The only one Nilal could ever recall who wasn't affected by her eye was Spade, but he too was a very powerful illusionist with many other abilities that played a part. She felt excited for once not having to wear the contact. 250 plus year of it being in her eye and this was only the second time to have removed it.

"I suppose I am more than content on having my curiosity filled with answers. You're free to head back to your room or whatever you wish." He said.

Nilal nodded while letting go of his hand, walking to the door. Mukuro followed up behind her shortly and held the door closed. She turned around staring at him he smirked and leaned in, this time staring into both her eyes. In his hand he held her contact lens out that she had removed. When she had turned to leave it had slipped out of her grasp.

"I don't think the contact is necessary, but that's just me."

"I do it to keep others safe. This is the one part of me I haven't ever controlled. I'd rather not chance it by not wearing it.

"It was merely my opinion." He said

Nilal left Mukuro and went straight to her room. Her heart was still thumping against her chest. Not to make it sound like something extreme, but that was the most contact those two had, that didn't involve any reality warping. She closed her door and went to place her contact down on the table, jumping on her bed soon. Looking at her bandaged hand she realized Mukuro didn't ask about it, but whatever, his priorities and what not, and her messy bandage hand wasn't one of them even though last time she recalled him licking the blood. The thought made her cheeks blush as she quickly sat up. After pulling the bandages of and fixing them properly she rolled over in her bed and fell asleep.


End file.
